Finding Who Was Lost
by Crimsonsentry123
Summary: zombie AU. Rewrite of my previous story. Lincoln is on a journey to return to the family he was torn away from, joined by Richard, the man who saved Lincoln from his own personal hell. Will also contain other characters from the show and a few other original characters of mine. Contains violence, Language and sexual situations. viewer discretion is advised.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hey guys so here is my updated version of my previous story. I think this ones better than what I did before. I got these first three chapters done and I plan on updating as soon as I can, should be at least a week between chapters if not more. So without further ado I bring you the first chapter "Finding Who Was Lost"**

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 **Finding Who Was Lost**

Just about ten miles outside of a small town, a man walked along a long deserted stretch of road early in the day. The road was flanked on both sides by a lush forest, and the sounds of wild life hidden by the clusters of trees. The road was littered by empty cars, rotting corpses, and luggage of people who were just trying to survive. A flock of crows flew by as the man continued on to the town, trying to load up on more supplies. Sounds in the nearby shrubbery alerted the man, and he gripped the knife he had sheathed on his chest, he had it that way cause it was similar to a character he saw in a video game.

The man crouched and started heading towards the cluster of bushes to his left and readied his blade for whatever was behind them. As he was a few feet from the bush, a rabbit hopped out from behind them, the man chuckled to himself as he thought _"gonna have some rabbit stew tonight"_. Just then a walker came shambling from behind a tree to the right of the man, he immediately stood up, pushed the walker to the ground and stabbed it in the head. The rabbit took this chance to run off, "goddamn asshole you let my food get away!"

The man went back to the road, seeing a road sign that let him know he was ten miles out from the next town "gettin close". The man pulled out his backpack with the name "Richard" printed on the front; to check the current stock of supplies. Seeing he was still good on food and water, but unfortunately didn't have any meds left. Richard threw the backpack on and then picked up the two weapons he kept over his shoulders.

His main weapon of choice was a M4A1 Carbine, which he found in a place he's been calling home for the last five months. The rifle had a small sight mounted on top and a silencer that Richard found in a camp a couple weeks back. He also carried a simple bolt-action sniper with him, it wasn't anything fancy, just a normal rifle favored by hunters. Other than those two Richard kept a pistol he called his "baby" in a holster on his side. The gun was a 1911 model .45 caliber handgun, something that Richard always liked for a reason he still doesn't know; he just always thought the 1911 models of handguns were cool.

Six months back people would've thought that Richard was some type of crazy guy that was gonna shoot up the place, but not now, now he just looked like a survivor. The outbreak that made the world what it is today started about six months back. Starting overnight, the world was thrown into chaos by the end of the first day, no one knew where the proverbial "patient zero" was but one thing was for sure: no one was prepared. The government set up safe zones at various CDC centers but it didn't take too long for those to fall. By the end of the month society was brought to what it is now, people trying to survive the dead.

Instead of the world being separated by countries, ideals, race, religion, it was simply split into the living and the dead. But some of the living didn't see it that way and fought among each other to get what they wanted. Richard wasn't one of those people, he drifted from place to place, while setting up outposts around his home. As he drifted he helped anyone who needed it and gave a choice to those who wanted to take whatever they wanted, the choice was leave or die. Richard didn't like to kill in cold-blood, he gave these people the choice to walk away and when they didn't what happened next was their doing.

Richard wasn't really anything special. He was 5' 3" and before the apocalypse, wasn't really that fit, he's always had his speed though. He was white and had dark brown hair, and a dark shade of blue eyes. His hair was hidden underneath a black cap, and he wore a black duster with a red button-up shirt, on top of that he had a military vest he found a week ago. Other than that he just had a simple pair of blue jeans and black sneakers, some people would say he looked like a cowboy, thinking of him as the Lone Ranger.

Richard strolled into the town and took a look around at the various buildings that were on each side of the streets and intersections. Most of them were made of bricks, and half of them had the same shade of red paint on them. As Richard walked around the town he began jotting down some places worth looting, or making his last outpost to fill in the circle around his home. He saw a police station that might make a good spot, he noticed a five story hotel off in the distance, about two blocks away and decided that would be his outpost, it had the best view of the surrounding area and he could store so much crap in it. Heading towards the hotel he noticed a local clinic and figured that would be his first stop after clearing out the hotel.

As Richard continued walking the streets he was surprised that he had only encountered a few walkers, usually the towns had a bunch around. Richard shrugged it off though, another walker killed another living person saved. He rounded a building that was to the right of the main road leading towards the hotel but ducked behind the wall when he noticed two guys guarding the front of it. Rich looked around, spotting a nearby three story building that would serve as a good lookout point. When he finally got up there he took out his hunting rifle to scope the building out, trying to see how many people were actually there. Rich was seeing way too many to risk heading in, securing the place would be more trouble than it was worth.

He scanned the last floor, not seeing anyone yet, he was about to put down his rifle and start looting when he saw a boy run out of the room to the glass balcony. The kid stepped on the bar above the glass, ready to jump and Richard's eyes widened, internally screamed not to do it, as the kid was about to step off and plummet to his death he was grabbed by some guy. The man pulled him back over the ledge and that's when Richard noticed the scars over the kid's back, now he was starting to get mad and understand what was going on. He watched as the man started shaking the boy, yelling at him before smacking him down, if there was one thing Richard hated the most, besides spiders, was someone abusing a kid.

Richard watched as the man bent over the boy, his hands around the kids throat as he continued to yell at him, then he did something that Richard knew deep down was gonna happen but didn't want to think about. The man, who Rich had decided to call "Asshole" for now was reaching for the kid's pants, trying to undo them as he held the boy down. Richard wanted nothing more than to shoot this asshole, his rage nearly taking over as he started to squeeze the trigger but then thought as he figured that when he killed him, all the guys in there would be alerted and the kid wouldn't be able to make it out, just like Richard wouldn't get in.

As asshole had succeeded in pulling the kid's pants down and began to undo his own, Richard had to look away, covering his ears as he heard the screams coming from the hotel. Richard got up and pulled out the duffle bag he kept underneath the backpack he carried, sure it was a lot of weight but Richard was used to carrying a lot of weight. He rummaged through it trying to block out the noise coming from the distance, he pulled out his shotgun, putting the hunting rifle in it's place and began pulling out all the excess ammo. He pulled out the bandoleer and began loading it up with shells, his hands shaking as the rage was building inside him. Taking out a couple extra mags for his carbine to put in his vest, he also pulled out a spare mag for his handgun.

Once he felt he had enough he put in his headphones as he blasted his loud rock music to wait for night to take everyone of those bastards out, he hated leaving the kid there another minute but Rich needed to be smart about this, he wouldn't be good to that kid dead. Getting a couple hours sleep Richard looked at his pocket watch and saw that it was almost nine _"alright that's enough time, I think it's time to let the demon out, hang on kid I'm coming"_.

Richard crept up to the side of the hotel finding a door unguarded. _"guess these idiots think everyone will walk trough the front"_. Richard inhaled counting to four and exhaled counting to four, then slowly opened the door. Rich aimed his carbine down the hallway, seeing no one and the place being barely lit excluding a couple fire barrels here and there. Rich started checking all the rooms finding sleeping idiots as he did, _"hate to do this while they're asleep but It's gotta be done, can't have anyone coming behind me, sorry."_ Rich stabbed everyone he came across before doubling back to the front door, Richard shot one in the head and the other a couple times in the chest as he turned around, gathering their weapons, Richard had made a pile in the front to take later.

Rich continued through the floors, only finding a few guys awake, he kept on killing them, everything was going smoothly until, he got to the forth floor. When Rich opened the first door on his right he found four people playing poker, the man at the backside of the table spotted Rich immediately and raised his gun to fire. Richard sprayed his carbine from his hip, hitting everyone at the table, but not before the man at the back got a shot off, grazing Rich in his left arm and alerting everyone else in the building.

He heard the shouting of the men in rooms around him and the sound of footsteps rushing around. "fuckin great, thanks dick." Richard opened the door to his room, only to find a man right in front of him, holding a revolver. Richard punched the man across the face and slammed his arm against the door frame trying to knock the gun out his hand.

The guy dropped the gun but then punched Rich in the face making him stumble back, Rich then drew his .45 and fired three times into the man's chest. He heard more footsteps rushing down the hallway, picking up his carbine, Richard reloaded before forming up on the other side of his doorway, leaning out to the hallway. Rich heard a shot whiz right by his head and pulled back into the room. Getting against the doorframe again, Richard blindly fired his carbine back down the hall, hitting one guy in the arm and killing another, making the rest of the gunmen take cover.

Looking back out, Richard saw the last few guys reloading their weapons and went to fire on them but his gun clicked, meaning he was out. Instead of reloading another mag, Rich pulled his shotgun around and fired down the hallway twice, hitting the three men. Unknown to Richard the door behind him back to the stairwell was opening, as two men came through. One fired at Richard, hitting him in the shoulder of his left arm, making him drop his shotgun. "goddamn it!" Rich drew the pistol from his holster and fired at the two guys who came from behind him. Rich had hit one in the head and the other a few times in the chest.

Retreating back into the first room Rich took the time to reload his Carbine and pistol, smacking his head when he realized he left his shotgun in the hall. "son of a bitch. Why do they keep hitting the same damn arm?!" Rich said to himself as he brought a hand to his shoulder, wincing in pain as he felt his wound.

As the last two men slowly crept up to the room Richard was in, rich took out his pistol, but held the carbine in his other hand, he then formed up behind the door. As the two men entered he kicked the door, bashing one of them against the wall, he smacked the other to the ground with his carbine, he then pushed the first guy up against the wall holding him up with his arm as Rich fired four times into the guys chest with his pistol.

The second guy got back up hitting Richard in his chest before charging Rich back into the hall. As Rich hit the wall he recovered in time to move to the left of the man's fist and he hit the wall instead. Rich then elbowed the man in the face and kneed him in his stomach, before throwing the man to the ground, when the guy started getting back up Rich roundhouse kicked him across the face, knocking him out. "Sorry bout this but I need to make sure you stay down" Rich said as he stabbed the guy in the head. He then went back to everyone else on that floor and did the same thing. Rich picked up his weapons and stumbled up to the last floor.

As Richard slowly opened the door to the last floor he was shot at by someone, "hey asshole just leave, who do you think you are Batman or something?" one of the two men said. "well no, no, not really because one: Batman doesn't kill, two: my name is Richard, and third: I think I'm more like the punisher considering what I just did to your friends back there." Rich replied. "fuck you!" the other man spat back.

"Listen I don't know how many of you are left up there but one way or another I'm saving that kid in there and I'm going to give you the choice of putting your guns down and walking away, otherwise I can't guarantee you'll live" Rich informed them. The two guards just looked at each other "what do you think we are stupid? what assurance do we have that you'll keep your word, you just took out everyone else here."

"Fair point, ah" Rich said as he held a hand up to his shoulder. "Listen I know my word doesn't mean much at this point but I promise if you walk down that other stairwell and away from here I won't come after you." Rich told them. Checking his ammo, Richard noticed he still had one full mag left for his carbine and pistol, granted he did have a lot left for his shotgun, he was still hoping they just left, Richard didn't want to get shot at anymore.

Hearing footsteps rushing towards the door, Richard backed down a few steps as one of the men kicked the door down. Rich immediately blasted him with his shotgun, sending him back before the other guy came in and started shooting at Rich. "Motherfucker!" the guy screamed as he fired at Richard, but Richard just jumped to the right firing his shotgun at the man as he did so, hitting him in the chest. "Man that was fuckin awesome I was like Max Payne or some shit!" Richard said to himself.

Rich was a big nerd, he played a lot of different game series and quoted or acted like some of the characters from them. "Alright I think it's time for the boss, let's hope he's easier then the fourth floor from hell." As Richard walked into the hall of the fifth floor he noticed there were only three doors, one of them said roof access by the side. Rich checked the first door on the right but found it was only a supply closet. "Well then let's see what's behind door number three". Richard formed up on the only door on the left side of the hall. Richard inhaled, counted to four, then exhaled and counted to four, Richard then kicked in the door, ready for this madness to end.

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 **So there's the first chapter, for the most part it follows the same path as before but with some things changed or expanded on here and there. The second and third chapter are the one's where I really change a bunch. I'll be posting those tonight as well, then I'll get to work on the fourth chapter.**


	2. saving who was lost

**Here's the chapter that I liked editing the most I think I did a much better job with it this time.**

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 **Saving who was lost**

Richard kicked open the door and a shot whizzed by the left side of his head, Rich quickly backed outside to the right side of the door frame. "Hey asshole, why do you and everyone else here keep trying to shoot me on my left side? Is it because that's my good side?" Richard coyly asked. "Who the hell are you? And what are you doing here killing all my people?!" Asshole asked. "My name's Rich and so far I've just been calling you asshole, so what's your name?" "It's Jim!" he replied. "Well Jim I would say nice to meet ya but we both know that's not true."

"So listen Jim is it alright if I take a look in there? I can hold my gun out to the side if that helps you." Richard asked, preferring to do things face to face. "I tell you what Rich, if you throw one of your guns in here I'll let you keep your head out? Since I'm guessing you like doing things face to face." "Deal" Richard took the shotgun from his shoulder and slid it inside, noticing that Jim was using the kid from earlier as a human shield, " _what a pussy_ ". Richard stuck his head back in and surprisingly Jim was keeping his word, Rich looked to the kid with a reassuring smile trying to let him know everything was gonna be fine.

Jim looked like people think white trash look like, he wore a dirty wife beater, jeans that were torn in various places and had a sick mullet, that was probably the only thing Rich liked about the guy.

The room itself looked surprisingly nice considering this was like a three star hotel in a small town. Had a big living room area with two big, red couches on the sides of a small fire table, the room had white carpeting and there was a door to the left that Rich assumed was the bedroom.

"Now Jim I know my word probably doesn't mean much to you but all I care about is the safety of that kid you got there. So long as you let him and me go I'll let you live." Jim looked at Rich with a face that just screamed " _do you think I'm stupid_?". "Yeah sure Rich and I'm Santa Claus, we both know you won't let me leave here, you went through so much trouble to get to me an-" "That's just so I can get the kid I don't care about you or any of the people I just killed, I just want him away from all of you." Rich interrupted.

"Alright Rich I tell you what, if you come in here with your hands up I'll consider letting the boy go" Jim told him, as his hold on the kid tightened. "and what assurance do I have that you won't shoot me as soon as I'm inside Jim? Trust goes both ways. I'll show you my hands now and then if you put that gun away I'll come in." Jim just glared at Rich, not trusting this bastard one bit, but if he wanted him dead he had to play along.

Jim put his gun away but held the kid close in case Richard wanted to try something, the kid winced as he was pulled closer, his whole body was shaking; even though he was ready to die earlier, he didn't want to now, not when he was so close to freedom.

Richard stepped into the room immediately looking to the kid. "So what's your name?" the boy was silent until Jim shook him a bit. "Go on boy tell him" Richard's fist's were clenching as he was wanting to punch Jim in the jaw. "Hey don't make him speak if he doesn't want to" Rich spoke up. "He's my boy I'll do what I want with him" Jim shot back. "I'm not your boy! My name is Lincoln, Lincoln Loud." The kid shouted. Not thinking, Jim turned Lincoln around to smack him across the face but Rich drew his pistol and fired at Jim's leg making him scream in pain, and loosen his grip on Lincoln enough for him to get away. Richard made Lincoln get behind him as Jim hobbled his way back into his room, shutting the door.

Rich decided to focus his attention on the kid for now, kneeling down to eye level, Richard looked at Lincoln with sympathetic eyes, and asked him "Are you al-" "No I am NOT alright. I've been here for two weeks and I'm guessing you saw what I tried to do earlier today." Lincoln angrily interrupted. "yeah your right, sorry dumb question but still one I felt I should ask" Richard said fully understanding that this kid is probably far from alright.

The kid had white hair, something Richard had never seen on a kid like him, his face a had a few freckles on it and he wore an orange polo shirt that was torn in various places and had stains over half of it; he wore blue jeans and had white sneakers on. He looked terrible, and Richard hated that he wasn't here sooner.

"Well I tell you what Lincoln, I'm going to head in there and have some fun with our "friend" Jim." Richard said as he pointed to Jim's bedroom door. Lincoln looked to the door and pondered on if he wanted that or not, before this apocalypse, before these people, he was a good kid, he never wished harm on anyone; he got mad at his sisters from time to time, but never wanted them to get hurt. "C, could you make I, It quick?" Lincoln stammered as Richard was turning to head into the room.

Richard just turned and looked at him with the most quizzical look. "You're telling me that after everything him and his men did to you, after all that and you don't want him to suffer at least a little bit?" Lincoln just looked at him with glassed over eyes, one of them black because of Jim earlier, and said "They took something from me, something that I don't think I'll ever be able to get back, they took me from my family and abused me here for over two weeks, but I won't let them turn me into something I never wanted to be. I won't give them that."

Richard just stared wide-eyed at this kid, stunned by his words, and his head flooding with memories of himself before all this, realizing that this kid spoke just like he did back then. "W, wow Lincoln I don't know what to say to that. You remind me of myself when I was younger. But It's not you that's hurting him so they haven't turned you into anything."

"It doesn't feel like that though, if you torture him, You'll be doing it because of what he did to me and my problem is I'll probably enjoy listening to it, hell I'd even want to watch you, that's what my problem is and I don't want to know if I actually have that inside me or not, I don't want to know if I'd enjoy it". Richard understood where Lincoln was coming from, not wanting it to happen or try it, because he doesn't want to find out if he enjoys it, in a way Richard was the same. "Lincoln Loud you surprise me, for some one your age, wait how old are you?" "twelve" Lincoln replied. "Right for someone your age I didn't expect you to be as wise as you are, hell you're better than a lot of adults I know, and who knows maybe even better than me." Richard complemented. "And how old are you?" Lincoln asked. "I'm 23, but I will be 24 in about two months if my calendar is right"

"Tell you what Lincoln I'm still gonna go in there, and I'm probably gonna beat on him just for a bit, that's just what I **need** to do, but I promise it wont go beyond that okay?" Richard asked. "y, yeah I guess that's fine" Lincoln said as he looked off to the side, slightly disappointed, in himself or Richard? He didn't know, but he also didn't care. "Be back in a bit, oh wait, here have some fun with this if you want, use it to try and forget where you are and what's going on." Richard jogged back as he handed Lincoln a nintendo switch. "I have a copy of the new smash bros. On there so just play with that for a bit, maybe unlock me some more characters." Richard said.

Lincoln just stared at the device in his hands, not believing what he was seeing "wow I, its been a while since I've…" Lincoln began as a tear formed in his eye. "I know, it's been awhile since you played any video game at all right? The place I have has solar panels on it so I have power there. When we get out of here I'll take you there, you'll love it." Richard promised. Lincoln booted it up and smiled as he started the game up, the first smile he's had in weeks. Richard sauntered over to the bedroom door, knocking he said "Hey Jim it's your friendly neighborhood Grim Reaper, I've come to collect." "hey fuck you man, I'm just sitting in here alright so just take that brat and leave." Jim replied, scared for his life at what this bastard has done already and what he might do.

"I'm gonna have to say no to that Jim, we both know I can't let you live." Richard said as he kicked in the door and rushed Jim pushing him up against the wall with his arm pressed against Jim's throat. Jim tried to pull out his gun to shoot but Richard just took his knife and stabbed Jim's hand to the wall. As Jim was screaming, his hand stuck to the wall, Rich walked back to the door shutting it as Lincoln passed him a worrying glance before he tried to focus on the game again. But when the door was shut Lincoln walked up to it wanting to hear, so he could stop Richard if he was taking it too far, at least that's what he was telling himself.

Richard walked back up to Jim smiling as he pulled the knife out of Jim's hand before punching him to the ground. "Alright Jim so surprisingly Lincoln asked me not to rough you up too much, so I'm gonna try my best to do that but no promises." "Fuck you" Jim spat out. "Jim, Jim you're gonna have to have better manners than that if I'm gonna be nice here." Richard said before punching him across the face.

"Now Jim I want to know why you've done this to him? I want to know how you could take a kid like Lincoln and hurt him the way you have?" "Oh while I might have been hurting him in the beginning he's been enjoying it recently, I've even got him asking for my big co-" Jim was interrupted as Richard kicked him twice in the stomach. Lincoln simply looked down, hating that there was a small truth to what Jim was saying, but shoving that thought out of his head, it wasn't like that, he didn't enjoy any of it.

"okay, okay sorry" Jim coughed out as Rich stopped kicking him. "Look before this whole apocalypse started I had never even touched a kid, sure I had the attraction, but I never acted on them, I simply fantasied; Even though I hated my thoughts and myself for having them, I couldn't change them, they wouldn't go away." Jim said, hoping that Rich wouldn't hit him again. Richard just looked down at Jim with a look that Jim didn't understand, then Rich sighed and walked away pulling up two chairs, setting one down next to Jim and one for himself, Richard then picked Jim up and set him on the chair.

"Alright Jim so what you're telling me is that all it took to make it alright for you to offend was the goddamn world to end?, listen I know that the thoughts don't go away believe me **I've** tried, but that just makes them come back stronger" Rich said. "Waaiit are you tellin me that?" "Yes Jim I am in a way like you, but I still haven't touched a kid and I never will, because of that" Richard said as he pointed at the door, talking about Lincoln. "The damage you've done to him is gonna take some time to get over but with my help I'll make sure he gets back to his old self, or at least as close as he can." Richard continued.

Jim simply stared wide-eyed at Rich, not believing what he was hearing, and on the other side of the door Lincoln was the same, his heart stopped. He was petrified, frozen in place and didn't know what to do next, _"Should I run?"_ _ **"He's just like Jim"**_ _"No he said he still hasn't done anything, he, he said he was gonna help me."_ _ **"He just wants you to himself, he's gonna take you back to his place and fuck you just like Jim, maybe harder."**_ _"B, b, but I don't think I'll make it on my own, my family is still out there and I, I, I don't think I can find them on m y own."_ _ **"So you're gonna endanger your family by bringing a child molester right to their doorstep?" "** N_ _o there's a difference between pedophile and child molester_ _right?_ _, I, I, I don't know what to do!"_

Lincoln's heart was racing he couldn't think straight and now he was having a legitimate conversation with the voice inside his head. Lincoln tried to calm down and steady his breathing so he can listen to them again. "so yeah Jim you see there was a group of people before the world fell called the " _virtuous pedophiles"_ and what we did was not look at child pornography and not touch children, all of us took active steps to protect kids." Jim just kept looking at Richard dumbfounded.

"so you get it Jim, just because you're a pedophile doesn't mean you have to be a child molester too, I know having the thoughts can be hard and it can be hard accepting and living with yourself sometimes, but it is possible." Richard continued. "I think you're full of shit Rich, there's no way you haven't done anything, one way or another all of us do!" Jim replied not believing what Rich was saying.

"Listen Jim I'm not trying to convince you here I'm just telling you that if you had some restraint and self-control then you never would have hurt him, and you've hurt him in more ways than one, and that's why..." Richard then slammed his knife down into Jim's gunshot wound. As Jim screamed in pain, Lincoln cringed outside the door, but noticed that he was also smiling a bit which scared him. "That's why I need to kill you, I can't trust you to not come after us one day, or do this to some other poor kid." "AAARRGHHG screw you Rich" Jim spat out with venom in his voice.

"Who knows Jim maybe you would've turned out differently if you got some help, maybe not from a therapist cause I know finding the right one of those is hard, but finding this support group; When I joined I was so relieved that I wasn't alone, that I had people to talk to, and eventually they gave me the courage to tell my family". Richard said with the biggest smile forming on his face. "You know what? They accepted me and told me how strong I was."

"Huh, yeah I guess I would've like to meet these guys, you know, before the world went to shit. Who knows maybe I, maybe things could've turned out differently." Jim replied, in a soft whisper, the calmest tone he's used all night, with a hint of regret. Outside Lincoln was still frozen in place, focusing on every word they said, maybe Richard could be trusted but who knows he could also just turn into another Jim. Lincoln looked around and found one of Jim's spare guns lying on the table, he looked at it for a few seconds before picking it up and aiming at the door, his hands shaking.

"yeah Jim, I wish we could've met too, I would've enjoyed helping you out, like those people helped me." Richard calmly said. "Well I guess it's time right?" Jim asked as he looked at Richard with sad resigned eyes. "yeah Jim you ready?" "No but I don't really think most people are ready to die, may we meet in the next life" Jim said. "Go in peace Jim, knowing that I'm going to help Lincoln, I'm gonna help him through this and help him find the family you took him from. Goodbye." Richard said as he pulled the trigger, shooting Jim in the head.

The shot made Lincoln jump and he fired through the door, narrowly missing Rich, "whoa, whoa, whoa! Lincoln? You all right? Did someone else get in?! Answer me man!" Richard said as his voiced raised. "N, no, I, It's just me here, I got startled when you shot him." Lincoln replied in a shaky voice. "And why do you have a gun? Are you sure you're okay?" Rich asked. Richard slowly opened up the bedroom door, seeing Lincoln standing only five feet away pointing the gun at Richard's chest.

"Alright so I'm gonna guess one of two things happened, either you really wanted to kill Jim yourself and were heading in to do it before I shot him, oorrrr..." Richard looked to Lincoln with an eyebrow raised, curious to how much he heard. "…I'm guessing you heard everything between me and Jim and think things are gonna turn out the same, and I understand you wanting to make sure that it doesn't."

Lincoln was breathing faster now, his heart continued to race as he was deciding to shoot or not, tears were starting to well up in his eyes, obscuring his vision, as he was scared. He was scared because this guy could end up like Jim, but Lincoln also didn't want to be alone again, then he thought about what Rich had said. "Y, y, you said you'd help m, me find my f, family?" Lincoln asked trying to steady his aim, and calm himself down with the thoughts of seeing his family again.

As Richard held up his hands, he replied "well Lincoln, yeah of course I intend to help you find them no matter what, if it's the last thing I do, even if it kills me in the end, I'll die happy knowing I helped you." Lincoln glanced over to the side a bit slightly lowering his gun until Richard continued. "But… if you don't think you can fully trust me to not hurt you, then I want you to pull that trigger because I don't want to repeat this situation a lot you follow me?"

Lincoln nodded in response still trying to think. "Linc, listen I'm not gonna tell you what to do here, I'm giving **you** the choice, some choices need to be made by the heart while others need to be made by the mind. Look inside yourself to see what you want to do; But if you are gonna shoot me then use this." Rich said as he tried to hand Lincoln his .45. "Whenever I thought about ending my own life, I knew I wanted to do it with a gun like that. So if your gonna shoot me take it." Rich asked. Lincoln just stared at Richard's gun, taking it in his hand, Lincoln dropped the other gun and aimed this one at Rich, Richard then looked up to the ceiling, eyes closed and deep in thought about his life, a smile came across his face as he thought, _"if this is my last night on earth, at least I went out on a high note"._

Instead of hearing a shot however, Rich just felt something being shoved against his chest, when he looked down he saw Lincoln shoving his gun against Rich allowing him to take it back before Lincoln started walking back. "Listen here Rich, you're gonna take me to my family and then you're gone okay? All I care about is getting back to them, and if you can make that happen, then I'll trust you to do that… for now" Lincoln said in a stern voice making it sound more like an order than a question.

Richard just smiled back at him, "sweet the adventures of Drifter Rich and his sidekick the white-haired wonder begin tomorrow!" Richard exclaimed as he threw his fist in the air. Lincoln just looked back with a brow raised and a face showing he was not amused. "Aw come on I thought it was cool. Just tryin to lighten the mood a bit you know?" Rich said in a faux hurt tone. Sighing in defeat Richard told Lincoln to follow him out of here, "Hey by the way is there any place these guys keep all their stuff? I passed a locked door on the floor below us and figured that might be it." "Y, yeah I think that's it" Lincoln replied.

Heading downstairs, they reached the locked door and Rich busted the lock off with the butt of his carbine. Opening the door Richard held his hand out," after you sir". Lincoln just looked at him with that same look, "hey I'll get ya to laugh sooner or later". Rich factually said pointing at Lincoln. The room was loaded with supplies, surprisingly well organized too. Everything was designated by an area marked with writing on the walls. Weapons and ammo, fuel, food and water, medical, and a space marked miscellaneous, Rich saw a bunch of mixed things there, some stuff he might want.

Spotting a couple duffle bags and a backpack nearby Rich handed one of each over to Lincoln, "here fill the backpack up with stuff you personally wanted and then fill up that duffle bag with stuff for the both of us, I'll be doing the same". Lincoln took the bags and started filling his new backpack, starting by the weapons section. "Hey Lincoln do you need a hand picking out a gun? I know a good amount of info to help you make an informed decision." Lincoln just sighed in annoyance "no Rich I'm fine thank you". "Alright sorry man."

Lincoln mentally kicked himself, _"so far he's been a nice guy don't need to be a complete dick to him over being who he is."_ _**"Naw screw that he's a piece of shit and we both know it"**_ _"But he hasn't even done anything to u- me, he hasn't done anything to_ _ **me**_ _yet all he's done is save me and even let me play a damn video game, it feels like a year since I've done that."_ _**"He's just buttering you up for later, making you let your guard down and trust him so it will make it that much better when he fu-"**_ "SHUT UP!" Lincoln shouted, only realizing it wasn't in his head this time as he saw Rich look at him with a concerned tone "h, hey Linc you alright?" "I said I'm fine! So stop asking!" Lincoln shouted at him. Rich, visibly hurt this time just looked to the ground before turning around to the table with the random junk on it. Great. Now Lincoln felt like shit.

Lincoln decided to come back to the weapons later, looking to the food so he could take some good stuff for him, then grabbed a few bottles of water and a couple soda cans. Lincoln noticed that Richard had barely filled up his backpack with anything and was filling up the duffle bag at a slower rate, he must be lost in thought. _**"Probably thinking about how he's gonna screw you later"**_ Lincoln slammed his eyes shut as he turned his head to the side, trying to block out the voice in his head. When he looked back he saw Richard looking back at him, this time with an understanding look.

"So I'm guessing you have one too huh?" Rich asked. "One what?" Lincoln asked. "Another voice in your head, kinda feels like it's another person when really it's just the part of your mind you don't want to acknowledge, the one that you argue with right? Trying to make you think about things you don't really want to think about or convince you of something". "H, how did you...y, yeah it does, does it ever go away? Will my mind actually be back to… normal at some point?" Lincoln hopefully asked. "Well Lincoln mine still occasionally comes back from time to time, since this apocalypse started **he** hasn't really shown up much. I wish I had a concrete answer for you but unfortunately it's something that varies person to person depending on their life, before the apocalypse however that other side of me was a real piece of shit, bringing me to the brink of suicide multiple times."

"So Lincoln to change the topic and to pass the awkward silence while we finish gathering all this stuff up, why don't you tell me something about yourself, for everything you tell me I'll tell you, deal?" Rich asked in a more cheerful tone. Lincoln just nodded in response.

"Well I guess the first thing I should mention is that I come from a big family… I have ten sisters, all diff-" "whoa hold on ten!?" Richard interrupted and Lincoln turned back to see his jaw dropped. _"That never gets old heh heh"_ "y, yeah they are all special in their own way, I have a baby sister called Lily, a five-year old sister called Lisa who is extremely gifted, she is actually a genius who works at colleges." Lincoln began. "Wow seriously, no this sounds like some cartoon, you gotta be messin with me."

"Nope." Lincoln continued with a smile. "Then there's the twins Lola and Lana both of them are Seven and Lola is a beauty pageant queen, she's bossy and is basically a big diva. Lana is more down and dirty, she always likes playing in the mud, likes fixing things around the house, mainly my dad's van or "vanzilla" as we called it. She also likes animals she has a pet snake among others. "ok come on this must be a joke." Richard said with a laugh.

"So carrying on, there's Lucy, she's eight and considers herself the queen of darkness, always trying to conjure up spirits and is in love with vampires, she's also pretty good when it comes to writing poetry." "Hmmm she sounds nice" Richard said. "Then we have my older sisters, Lynn jr. my fourteen year old sister, named after our father, is a sports junkie, she plays nearly every sport there is and wins at all of them, she's gotten many trophies for her victories." "Alright one you have the most interesting family and two I think I understand your white hair now." Richard commented.

"No actually I was born with it, I did get called some names by kids in school because of it, but I like it, I think it makes me unique." "That it does Lincoln, from what you've told me you seem to have a cool life." "y, yeah… until now" Lincoln's gaze went back to the floor, remembering the life he had before all this. "Hey Linc" Lincoln was snapped out of his daze by Richard. "Come on don't leave me in suspense, tell me about the other four."

"Alright next is… next is Luan" Lincoln looked noticeably hurt by speaking her name. "Hey Lincoln you can tell me about her later if you want" Richard said in an understanding tone, getting why he didn't want to talk about her. She must've not made it. "Y, yeah" Lincoln said as he wiped a few tears from his eyes, before turning back and gathering more stuff from the table.

"After her is Luna she's sixteen, now I don't have a favorite sister but there are some I'm closer with than others. I think Luna and me are the closest, she's a rock star. She, plays guitar and sings in a band, she would always sing me lullabies when we were younger. Me and her even share the same taste in music, we both love rock, she introduced me to my favorite band: smooch." Lincoln said as he was lost in the memories of times him and his family shared, and his times with Luna, helping her writing songs and listening to her play.

"Then there's Leni she's sixteen, soon to be seventeen and is kinda slow at times, but shes a genius when it comes to fashion, she always makes the best clothing designs and sometimes I would help by modeling for her. She was always sweet and had a childlike innocence to her, she's definitely too sweet for the way the world is now… I hope she's made it somewhere safe with the rest of my family." Lincoln said as he put some more medicine in his duffle bag. "And the last of these "super sisters"?" Richard asked earning a chuckle out of Lincoln, "ha told you I'd get you!" Richard exclaimed victoriously, running around the room like he just scored a goal.

 _"W_ _hat an idiot ha, but he is funny, he's kinda like a cross between Lynn and Lu-"_ Lincoln thought about her again, thought back to that day when he was with her while she...while she. Richard noticed Lincoln looking hurt again, thinking he went to far Richard walked up to him and knelt down to his level. Richard calmly said "hey, hey Lincoln I didn't mean to upset you, I took it too far and I'm sorry."

Lincoln just looked up at Rich, seeing those reassuring eyes trying to tell him everything was alright, something broke inside Lincoln, it was like a dam had just burst in his chest and he began crying loudly, letting out everything he's kept inside, not wanting to give those bastards the satisfaction of seeing him break. Grabbing onto Richard he buried his head into Rich's chest.

As Lincoln began to wail into Richard's arms, he thought about all the events that led up to this night, and wanted nothing more than to be back in the loving embrace of his family, but Rich would have to do for now despite who or what he is. "I, I just want to be back with them, I wish everything could go back to before all this shit! I'm just a damn kid this shouldn't be happening to me. E, e, everything hurts and I, I can't make it stop!" Lincoln said through sobs as Richard just held Lincoln as he quietly shushed him, telling Lincoln everything was gonna be alright and trying to get him to calm down.

"I'm here Linc, I'm here for you and I'm not going anywhere, I wish I could steal all your pain but unfortunately I don't have that power but what I can do is help you find your family, I'll get you back to them, I swear on my life." Rich said as Lincoln slowly began to calm down, chocked sobs and haggard breathing remained, eventually Lincoln came down from his crying state and let go of Richard; backing up slowly.

"L, lets just get out of here. I want to leave this hell I've been in for over two weeks." Lincoln coldly said as he wiped the last of his tears with his hand. "Hey you're forgetting something" Richard said as he pointed to the table with the various weapons on it.

"I feel like he's been holding that in for a long time to hurl himself onto someone he knew was… like Jim, those damn bastards" Rich wished he could go back and kill them all over again. He felt the rage boiling up inside him until he was pulled out of his thoughts.

"Oh yeah…" walking over to the table and then looking back to Rich. "So Rich, want to help me pick one?" Lincoln asked. Richard smiled "It would be my pleasure white-haired wonder" Richard said with a goofy ass smile. Chuckling Lincoln replied "Ok that name isn't that bad but let's keep working on it ok?" Richard frowned "Alright I'll keep thinking, maybe you could help me later"

"So see one you like? Remember the bigger the gun usually means the bigger the kick, you don't want something that'll blast you on your ass when you fire it. I think some of the ones over here would work perfectly until you get used to firing more." Richard started. "I've used a gun before… well a couple times actually" Lincoln sadly stated. "I see where that's going we wont talk about that now, don't want you thinking about that stuff." Richard said to him. Lincoln nodded, not wanting to dwell on bad memories.

"Hhmmmm, hey Rich what about this one" Lincoln said pointing to a small .380 caliber Ruger handgun. "Yeah I think that one would work perfectly as a starter gun for you, it looks just like the one that my… that my dad got me." Now it was Richard's turn to remember possible dead loved ones, he said possible because he left his family when the apocalypse started, wanting to hit restart on the life he hated so he could become someone else. Leaving them was the biggest regret of his life, they accepted him and were the best parts of his life and he left them like an asshole. "Hey Rich. You okay?" Lincoln asked putting a hand on Rich's shoulder, pulling Richard from his thoughts. "Huh, oh yeah I'm good just thinking of something is all.

As they loaded up all the ammo and the rest of the guns into the two duffle bags, Richard grabbed a few of the gas cans as he told Lincoln to pick up the lighter of the two duffle bags, Richard would take the other. As they went through the halls littered with bodies, Lincoln saw all the damage Rich had done to get to him, seeing all the trouble he had to go through, to get Lincoln out of here. _"Damn this guy is like the punisher"._ Lincoln thought, then he looked back to Richard who was pouring the gas cans along the floor, Lincoln knew what he was doing and he was appreciative of it.

Lincoln hated that he enjoyed seeing all these people dead, he didn't want to be like that. He started turning away from the bodies as they continued down the hotel. _**"Don't look away from them Lincoln we both know you like it, you're glad they're dead, you only wish you could've done it yourself."**_ _"N_ _o. I wanted them dead sure but I didn't want to do it myself that's not me."_ _ **"You mean it wasn't you, past tense, you aren't who you used to be anymore and you know it, you've changed."**_

Lincoln just tried to block it out, think back on his family, he was gonna find them again and that put a smile on his face. When Richard and Lincoln made it to the lobby, Richard poured the last of the gas can out before pulling out a match, looking to Lincoln, he felt it best for him to do it. "Here" Rich said as he handed the match to Lincoln, Lincoln looked at it, he struck it and threw it on the trail of gas. "Let's leave" Lincoln said.

As they walked away from the hotel they noticed a small group of walkers heading towards them, Richard grabbed onto his knife. "Ready for some fun Linc?" Rich asked. "Shouldn't we just leave? We can make it around them no problem" Lincoln replied. "Well you see Lincoln I believe in killing any walker I come across, except if its a group bigger than like five or six of them. One more dead taken out, another Living one saved." Richard said, "Plus I can continue to live out my fantasy of being a drifting waste lander, killing zombies like I'm some bad-ass."

"You're just some big nerd aren't ya Rich?" Lincoln asked with a grin across his face. "Is there a problem with that Linc?" "No. not at all I'm just glad that out of all the people I could've gotten saved by and travel with is like me." Lincoln said with a warm smile. Richard's heart swelled by Lincoln's reply, this was gonna be the start of a good friendship. "Same goes for you, now let's go."

Rich said as he jogged up to the group, throwing one walker to the ground on his left and stabbing one on his right. Lincoln kicked one in the front of the group and stuck it in the head when it stumbled down. Rich stomped on the first walker he threw and looked back to Lincoln, watching just in time to see him stab the last of the walkers on the ground.

"Nice" Rich said. "So how many have you taken down Lincoln?" breathing heavily, Lincoln thought about it for a minute, never really counting them. "Um I don't know like maybe 20, 25 at most? Including these two. How about you Rich?" Richard just simply grinned, "I lost track after one hundred." "Bullshit" Lincoln said before covering his mouth because of what he just said. "Hahaha Lincoln you should see your face! While I don't like kids swearing, nowadays I don't really mind so long as you don't overdue it ok? And besides you already swore earlier." Lincoln just nodded, his cheeks still a rosy tint of red, being embarrassed by the situation. But then starting to laugh alongside Richard.

"Alright the building is up ahead, we can sleep up here for the night and then tomorrow we'll head back to my place to plan out our journey to find your family" Rich said. As they got to the top of the three story building they looked out to the hotel which was really starting to go up in flames. Richard flipped off the burning building and Lincoln joined him, both of them with satisfied looks. "Alright I have a tent in here somewhere..." Rich said as he started rifling through the duffle bag he brought with him into town, he hated to think that now he'd have to carry two of them. Richard then pulled out a tent that was rolled up into a bag, based off the picture on the bag Lincoln noticed it looked big enough for two.

 _ **"H**_ _ **mm Big enough to have some fun in as well right Lincoln? I'm sure you're ready for another go."**_ _"Just shut up, I'm starting to like him, he's not gonna do anything"_ Richard rolled out the tent and asked Lincoln to help him get it set up, once it was done Rich pulled out two sleeping bags, throwing one inside and placing one on the floor five feet in front of the tent. Raising a brow, Lincoln asked "This thing looks big enough for two, why are you putting one outside?" "Well Lincoln I figured you'd be more comfortable without having someone like "me" sleeping next to you, even though I wouldn't do anything, I still feel like you'd prefer me out here." Richard replied.

"Oh...but it's your tent you should sleep in it, I can sleep outside, or even… deal with you being in there, I really don't think I'd be bothered by you." "Thanks Lincoln but I'm fine out here trust me I've slept in worse places."

"Well alright then if you're sure." Lincoln headed inside the tent putting his backpack down to the left of the sleeping bag. "Hey Linc, if you need anything I'll be right out here okay, don't hesitate to ask even if I'm sleeping alright? We got about… six hours till we should move out so try to get some sleep." Richard told him. "Alright Rich, goodnight, and… thank you, for tonight and what you did for me." Lincoln said. "It was no problem Lincoln, I feel better about myself when I'm being a hero so thank you for being someone I could save. No thanks are needed, now you have a goodnight ok." Rich replied.

"Oh wait before you go to bed you still have one more sister left to tell me about. But then again I also haven't told you anything about myself yet either, so never mind we can talk tomorrow while we are on the road. I'm not really great at small talk so it will help to have things to actually talk about. Anyway goodnight Lincoln." "Hey Rich..." "yeah" Rich replied. "My oldest sister's is name Lori, we can talk about her tomorrow, **after** you tell me about yourself." Lincoln said. "Deal buddy."

Richard started to drift off to sleep before long as he thought about today's events and smiled as he finally felt like the hero he always wanted to be. He closed his eyes as he thought about the hard task of finding Lincoln's big family, wherever they went. Lincoln had a bit more trouble trying to sleep however. _**"Remember he's just trying to get your guard down, then he'll take care of you just like Jim and you'll be able to have fun again."**_ _"S_ _hut up damnit, Rich isn't gonna be like Jim, he's everything Jim wasn't, he cares, he lets me make my own choices, and most of all he hasn't tried to hurt me, physically or emotionally."_ _ **"And that's what will make the moment he turns on you that**_ _ **much**_ _ **sweeter for him and agonizing for you, because after trusting him he's just gonna let you down.**_ _ **In the worst way possible.**_ _ **"**_ _"No he's not! I trust him at least I think I do, he seems sincere about everything."_

Lincoln looked towards the front of the tent thinking about Rich, "Just… don't prove me wrong Rich, I'm trusting you." Lincoln whispered to himself and he laid his head down as he tried to sleep; his dreams taking him back to that first day, the first day of his nightmare.

* * *

 **So I really Liked the way this chapter turned out. Next one is the flashback chapter and that's the one I've changed the most, you'll see what I mean.**


	3. back then

**Now Here's the first flashback chapter, showing the first day of the outbreak for the Loud family, and the first loss in Lincoln's life.**

* * *

 **Back Then**

January 5th, 2019

The alarm clock began going off on the nightstand next to the white-haired child of the Loud House, alerting him that it was seven am, time for him to get up. Usually all the kids would be up at six to get ready for school. But today was a Saturday, and while most kids Lincoln's age would be sleeping in as much as possible, Lincoln liked to start the day early; Especially for the day he had planned. Shutting his alarm off Lincoln got out of bed yawning and rubbing his eyes to shake off the grogginess of just waking up.

Usually Lincoln's time would be divided among his sisters helping them out with their various needs and hardly having time for himself. Sometimes the "man with a plan" would have to figure out how to divide his time so he could help everyone who needed it, even if some of his sisters needed him at the same time.

But today was different, today the sisters said they wouldn't bother him, realizing that their only brother didn't really have any time to himself and was always helping them, they agreed to let him be all day. They apologized for eating up most of his time, but being the brother he is he said he didn't mind, and that he's always happy to help them, but he still happily took this free day.

Lincoln's day consisted of getting through some of the backlog of games he's had for the past few months, including the ones he just got for Christmas. Lincoln then planned on going to the comic book store with his best friend Clyde to buy the newest Ace Savvy issue before heading back to Clyde's house to hang out with him. After that however Lincoln didn't know where to go from there, but he'd figure it out, today was his day and he wasn't gonna waste it. Heading over to his dresser and grabbing his signature orange polo and jeans as well as clean underwear and socks, Lincoln left his room to grab a quick shower before getting started with his day.

Usually in a family with eleven kids, there would be a long line for the bathroom, but since today was a Saturday, half of the house was still asleep. Lincoln only saw two sisters in front of the bathroom, Lynn jr. and Luan. Getting in line behind them Lincoln asked who was in there hoping it wasn't Lori or Leni. "Sorry bro but it might be a few more minutes, Lori is in there" Lynn spoke up. Lincoln groaned in response, "well anyways, how did you guys sleep?". Luan just grunted in response, still too tired to socialize. "you know me bro, I'm always ready to go after a good night's sleep, got my eight hours and I'm ready to train." Lynn replied.

Ever the athlete Lynn jr. made sure that she always got a good nights sleep so that she could get up bright and early to get her training in as soon as possible. "You can't be the best like me unless you train as hard as I do!" she said. Lincoln just rolled his eyes in response. Lincoln was always the one Lynn asked to help her train, most times she would have him be her sparring partner; But half the time he ended up being her punching bag instead. Lately however Lincoln was getting better thanks to his continued practice with Lynn, she was succeeding in her goal to toughen her family up.

"So Luan I heard that you have a gig today, where is it at?" Lincoln asked his comedian sister. "Oh its at some…rich person's house for their nine year old kid." Luan replied, yawning in the middle of her reply, still trying to wake up. She was up late last night practicing her clowning routine and her bit with Mr. coconuts, her dummy. "Well I'm sure you'll knock em dead" Lincoln exclaimed. Luan was gonna reply with a pun but she was still too tired to make one.

Lori finally walked out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around her as she left for her and Leni's room. "Move twerp" she said as she passed by Lincoln. She always called him twerp and sometimes threatened to turn him into a human pretzel, but he knew she loved him, most of the time she had to be the responsible one while her parents were out so she had to keep that stern exterior so her siblings would listen to her.

It wasn't too long before Lynn came out of the bathroom, Luan trudged in after her shutting the door behind her. Just as Luan closed the door Luna came out of her and Luan's room, surprisingly looking like she was the first to wake up today. "Hey luna you look like you slept well, did you already have your shower?" Lincoln asked "yeah little dude, I need to start practicing my jams, I got a gig booked after dinner and I want to be my best. Apparently there's gonna be talent agents there." Luna said. "Well don't be nervous Luna, I know you have the talent to make it big like your idol, Mick Swagger."

"Thanks dude, look alive I think it's your turn." Luna said as she pointed to the bathroom door. Once Luan was done Lincoln walked into the bathroom, turning the water on so it'd get warmed up before he headed in. Lincoln put his clothes on the vanity and stepped out of his pajamas before getting in the shower. Sighing in relief as the warm water washed over him, this was a good start to today.

Once Lincoln was done he stepped out of the bathroom only to be nearly knocked down by the twins fighting each other to get in first. "Out of my way philistine I was here first!" Lola shouted. "Nu uh I was here first you beauty snob." Lana shot back. Lincoln groaned having to break up yet another twin fight, he was always the best when it came to settling their arguments and fights. "girls!" Lincoln shouted.

Startled, the twins looked over to Lincoln, just now noticing he was even there. "Alright now who used the bathroom first yesterday?" the twins looked to each other and Lana looked down, raising her hand, defeated she said "it was me". She knew where Lincoln was going with this. "Alright then Lola goes first and then you can go first tomorrow, alright?" Lincoln asked, they both nodded. "Good, glad we could get this straightened out, now there shouldn't be anymore bathroom issues understand?" "yes" they said at the same time.

With that Lincoln headed back to his room, throwing his pajamas into his hamper before hopping on his bed, pulling out the radio he uses to talk with Clyde on. "come in Clyde this is Lincoln, over" not hearing a response Lincoln waited a minute before trying again, but then he heard Clyde's voice on the other end. "Hey buddy, Clyde here, I got some bad news though. Over" Lincoln didn't like the tone of Clyde's voice, he had a feeling something would go wrong today. "Let me guess, we can't hang out later? Over"

It was a few moments before Clyde replied. "Yeah buddy I'm sorry but my dad's are making me go with them on this trip upstate. Over" "Wait what, when did they mention this?! Over" Lincoln replied surprised Clyde didn't mention this before. "They just kind of sprung it on me this morning, saying we had to head out before noon. Over" Lincoln's face turned into a frown, he was looking forward to hanging out with his best bud today but it looks like fate had other plans. "Hey I know Linc, why don't you just invite Ronnie-Anne over." Lincoln's head immediately shot up and his cheeks turned a light shade of red. "r, r, Ronnie-Anne? I don't know Clyde I doubt she would want to go to the comic book store." Lincoln replied.

"Wweeellll I wasn't talking about going to the comic book store, maybe you could hang out at her house. Wink. Wink." Lincoln was now blushing more than before. Clyde was trying to play matchmaker, Lincoln and Ronnie have been "dating" for a bit now, even if they both said they weren't, Clyde knew the truth. "Clyde!" Lincoln exclaimed, "One: no way and two: me and Ronnie are not dating!" "Suuurrree Linc I got ya" Lincoln was getting a bit annoyed now, "whatever Clyde have fun with your dads."Whoa, whoa I'm sorry okay buddy, I wasn't trying to upset you. Don't want to leave you on a bad note. Over" sighing Lincoln replied "yeah I know Clyde, this just kinda put a damper on my plans for the day. Have a good trip buddy." "Thanks Linc I hope your day goes better than it has, sorry. Over and out."

Lincoln booted up one of his games trying to forget about the rest of his day and focus on right now, but he couldn't focus, he decided to call Ronnie and see if she wanted to hang out somewhere later. Looking at the clock Lincoln saw it was only a little past eight, he decided to wait a bit, _"she might still be asleep, I know she likes to sleep in, wait why do I know that?"_

A couple hours later Luan was heading out for her party while Luna was blasting away with her guitar in the garage. Lori was sitting on her bed talking to her Bobby "boo-boo bear". Ronnie-Anne's big brother. Leni was trying to come up with new fashion ideas for her new dresses she was working on. The twins were running around outside, while Lucy was at Lincoln's door. "hello brother I know all of us decided to leave you alone for the day but I was wondering if you could help me with a few lines on my poem? it wouldn't take too long." Lucy asked. "yeah sure Luce come on in, my day just opened up for a bit." "thanks Lincoln".

Lynn sr. had taken Lily on a trip to the grocery store while Rita was trying to make progress on her novel. Meanwhile their genius daughter was working on her next project, locked in her room. Sitting in front of her computer typing in formulas on her new paper, she received a video chat from James, one of her colleagues at the university. Lisa answered the call "yes James what do you want? I'm trying to make more progress on my pro-" "Lisa stop" James worrily interrupted trying to get her attention.

"Sorry but overnight there have been a few cases popping up all over the world, I have some footage of one that happened here in Royal woods last night around one am." Lisa raised an eyebrow. "now first I thought it was some dumb prank but then as more popped up and other researchers weighed in on what was happening I realized this was some new pandemic that was starting."

Lisa's eyes widened "a new pandemic you say? What is it? Some new virus strain or something? Show me the video from Royal woods I want to see what happened." Lisa excitedly said, she hadn't dealt with a pandemic yet. "well Lisa the content in the video is a little graphic, I don't think you want to see it, and I'm hesitant to show you." James replied concerned for how Lisa will react to it. "Just show me James I can handle whatever it is, besides you can't dangle something like that in front of me and then tell me not to watch it." "Alright Lisa, I'll send it to your e-mail"

A moment later the video popped up in Lisa's inbox she immediately opened it while having her video call with James to the right half of the screen. She saw footage of a man on an autopsy table, having already been worked on. "He was brought in about a half hour before hand, he was in some type of car wreck." James commented. She sped up the video after nothing happened for three minutes, she then looked over to James, "Is this a joke cause if it is I swe-" she then stopped as she saw the man get up from the table. "Yeah I know right?" James said, seeing Lisa's reaction.

The dead man started shambling towards the door when the medical examiner stepped in, startled by the fact that the body was moving towards him. Too stunned to move the examiner was grabbed by the man as it tore into his flesh taking a chunk out of the examiner's neck. "oh my word" Lisa said as she held a hand to cover her mouth. "just wait there's unfortunately more." Lisa looked over to James before looking back to the footage. A security guard opened the door to the other end of the room, pulling his gun out, yelling at the assailant to stop. The walker just turned and looked at the guard, slowly getting up.

The guard kept yelling as the walker continued moving towards him, when it got too close the guard fired his tazer at the walker, but it did nothing. The guard kept shocking it but it kept on walking closer. The guard took out his real gun and fired into the walker's chest three times, making it stumble back but it continued to trudge towards the guard. The guard continued to fire managing to hit the walker in the head with his next shot. Once it was hit the walker collapsed backwards. "Wait, wait, wait are you seriously showing me some dumb zombie movie James? I expect this from some of our other co-workers but not you."

"No Lisa listen to me I swear It's not a prank, call the other states or countries, call anywhere else and they will show you similar cases if not the same one I just showed you, come on Lisa, you said it yourself I wouldn't do something like that to you." Lisa pondered for a moment, out of all her colleagues she liked James the most and so far he had done her no wrong, but she didn't want to believe they were about to have some zombie pandemic on their hands.

"James let's set up a conference call with some of the others, I'll merge them in here with our chat." As Lisa listened to the other researchers while they pooled their data and first-hand cases of these walkers, they realized that with how fast this had spread overnight, it would take the combined effort of the world to stop this. No more borders, no more countries just the combined might of the living against the dead. Hopefully they can convince their respective governments to work together and stop this as soon as possible, otherwise it might be too late.

Once everyone else in the conference call left Lisa and James talked for a bit longer. "James you know I can't come up there to help you all work on this I need to help my family to safety before I can try and stop this thing" Lisa hated to leave her friend high and dry but she knew he would understand. "Lisa I get it, go take care of them, and don't worry about helping us. you know with how smart and mature you are I sometimes forget you're just a four-year old kid.

Back in Lori and Leni's room Lori was still on the phone with Bobby, "So boo-boo bear what are you doing later today?" Lori asked in her usual lovey dovey tone she used when talking with her boyfriend, which annoyed her younger siblings. "eh don't really got any plans, my moms gonna be at the hospital all night, something about some virus going around, she told me and Ronnie to stay in the house but I have a feeling Ronnie is already gone somewhere." "So what you're saying is that we would have the house all to ourselves?" Lori said back in a suggestive tone.

"Yeah, why babe you wanna come over maybe we could watch a movie or something" Bobby replied. "I was thinking maybe something a little more "fun" you know?" Lori replied still using her seductive tone while emphasizing fun. "Well what did you have in mind then?" Bobby said still oblivious to what Lori was suggesting. "Ugh Bobby I'm talking about..." Lori looked back at Leni, turning back around Lori whispered "… messin around you get it now?" "Oh, OH, wow um yeah babe that sounds great let me know when can you come over and I'll make sure Ronnie will be out of the house." Bobby said back. "I'll go ask my mom then text you back okay?" "Yeah babe see you later." Bobby, suddenly flustered and worried about tonight quickly left to the nearest pharmacy to grab some stuff for the day with his girl, this will be their first time and he wanted it to be special.

Lori nearly jumped down the stairs, as she went to her mom's room to ask her if she can go over to Bobby's. "Hey mom, how ya doing?" Lori asked hoping her mother would be in a good mood. "well dear I've been making some real progress on my novel so things have been good" Rita replied. "well is it alright if I go over to Bobby's house today? Please!" Lori asked as she used her puppy dog eyes for added effect. "is Ms. Santiago going to be there?" Lori nodded in response. "Then I guess it's fine dear just make sure you're back before dinner, your father is making a special dinner for us tonight." Rita sternly told her daughter making sure she would be back.

"Thanks mom I will literally be back before dinner's ready, bye." Rita just sighed and shook her head at yet another use of the word "Literally" from her daughter, she used that word so much you'd think it was the first word she learned. Lori texted Bobby "Hey my mom said I can come over whenever, did you get Ronnie-Anne out of the house?" she waited for five minutes for Bobby to reply, "yeah babe I just had to drive her somewhere, I'll be back at my house in about ten maybe fifteen minutes." "k I'll see ya then" Lori added in a bunch of heart emojis afterwards, and Bobby sent a few back in reply.

Lynn sr. was down at the local grocery store with his infant daughter lily, as he was shopping for ingredients to make a special dinner for his family tonight. While he was pushing Lily around in the cart down the vegetable aisle, Lynn heard a scream coming from the front of the store. Lynn worriedly turned the corner of the aisle to see some guy attacking a woman, biting into her as the people around them were either screaming and running away or tying to help the poor woman.

Lynn pulled out to dial his phone but he was pushed to the side as someone ran into him, trying to get out of the store, making him drop his phone. "damnit" since Lynn saw a few people restraining the man while others were helping the girl who was attacked he decided to leave, worried that someone else could come and attack him, and his baby.

Lynn ran out into the parking lot with Lily in his arms, heading towards the family van, Lynn began pulling out his keys. Once he reached his van he fumbled with his keys, dropping them. "come on!" As Lynn picked them back up he saw someone moving towards him in the reflection of the window, realizing the man looked like a dead body. Lynn turned back to him. "stay back please, I have a kid, don't hurt us!"

Lynn shouted as the walker came shambling towards him. As the walker got closer it was suddenly struck to the ground by Harold McBride, one of Clyde's dads. "wha-" Lynn was shocked to see his friend smash the "man's" head with a bat. Breathing heavily Harold just turned to Lynn and said "hey Lynn, there's something going on that you need to know about… we need to get you to your family."

Across town Luan was in the backyard of some rich family's home entertaining the kids with her new act. Adorned in her new clown outfit she was making the kids laugh, but she couldn't help but wish her brother was here helping her. After she was done she went over to the birthday boy's mother for her compensation before heading out, she didn't want to stay long. "thank you Luan, those kids loved you out there!" the mom commented. "eh it was nothing, I love **clowning around** at these parties Mrs. Jones."

"heh heh, well thank you nonetheless, I wish my husband was here to watch, he loves clowns for some reason. But unfortunately he had to work late, and he must've slept at the office cause I still haven't seen him; I'm actually starting to get worried he isn't answering any of my calls." Mrs. Jones said before turning to her left seeing her husband stumbling through the backyard gate. "oh speak f the devil there he is!"

Her husband shambled towards them as Mrs. Jones began to worry, he didn't look too good. When he got close Luan held her hand out to shake his own to greet him, but "Mr. Jones" had other ideas. He grabbed onto Luan's arm as he bit into her just above her wrist. "aahhhh what the hell!?". Luan screamed as Mr. Jones bit into her flesh, Mrs. Jones got between them and pulled her husband off Luan as Luan held her arm in pain. "honey what the hell are you doing?" she asked him before he grabbed her and chomped down on her neck, she started to scream as the other party guests started to panic.

Some of the parents began taking their children as others pried Mr. jones away from his wife. Luan just ran out of there running back home before anything else happened. While she was running home she saw ambulances and cop cars speeding by, as other people were running with bags in their hands, trying to leave in a hurry.

Back at home Lincoln looked at his clock seeing it was eleven Lincoln felt it was a good time to call Ronnie-Anne, she should be awake by now. The phone rang four times before he heard her on the other end. "hey Lame-o what's going on." she answered. "well Clyde bailed on me so I was wondering if you wanted to hang out or something." Lincoln said. "hhmmm… I'm at the park right now if you want to meet me here, we can figure something out from there."

"O, ok sounds great I, I'll see ya there." Lincoln stammered, "you alright Lame-o?" Ronnie could sense something in his tone, maybe nervousness, heh she wished he would have more confidence in himself. "huh? Oh yeah I'm fine, I'll see you in a bit."

Lincoln headed out to meet Ronnie at the park, maybe she could help him turn this day around. About ten minutes Lincoln entered the park and saw Ronnie-Anne sitting on a park bench looking at her phone with her baseball bat leaning against the side of the bench. "hey Ronnie, how ya doing?" Lincoln started. "oh I'm fine how are you L, L, Lincoln?" she said mocking him from their last phone call. Lincoln's cheeks turned a rosy shade of red as he remembered their earlier conversation.

"Hey I don't sound like that!" Lincoln shouted. "Easy there Lincoln I'm just messsin with ya, so what do you want to do?" she asked. "hm I don't know maybe we cou-" Lincoln and Ronnie were startled when they heard a scream in the distance, it was coming from behind them, back towards the road. They ran to see what was going on, with Ronnie grabbing her bat.

As Luan was getting closer to her house she saw more panicked people running as a few helicopters flew over head. She was too distracted by them to notice the walker stumbling from the bush in front of her. The walker grabbed her Leg, tripping her and making her fall flat on her face. She turned around to see the walker trying to pull her towards it. She screamed out for help as she tried to kick it away.

As it was about to take a bite out of her leg she closed her eyes not wanting to look. But she instead heard a thud, and as she opened her eyes she saw some Hispanic girl holding a bloodied bat looking down in fear at what she just did. "Luan!" she heard a familiar voice as she looked to her left to see her brother running up to her. "Lincoln! Oh my god I was so scared, first I was at the party where the dad there bit me and now this guy..." she was erratic, thankful that her brother was there though. "are you alright? Let me see." Lincoln said turning on his protective brother mode, he gave her a big reassuring hug before checking her arm. Seeing the bite mark, and the dead guy on the floor, the worst case scenario went through Lincoln's mind. _"oh… please no."_

"D, did I just kill some one? Oh my god what did I do, no, no, no" Ronnie-Anne said as she dropped her bat holding her head and shaking with fear thinking she just killed some guy. "No Ronnie, listen to me you didn't do anything wrong you were saving my sister, if you didn't hit him then she might be dead right now." Lincoln tried to reassure her, and he held onto her as he tried to calm her down.

"Can you walk Luan?" Lincoln asked. "no I think my ankle's twisted or something I don't think I'll be able to walk on it." she replied. "o, ok let me think… Ronnie can you call Bobby? See if he can pick us up." Ronnie pulled out her phone dialing her brother's number.

At the Santiago residence Bobby and Lori were up in his room making out. As they shared a passionate kiss Lori reached down to Bobby's pants to start heating things up. Bobby moaned as Lori began messaging his cock through his jeans. "you like that boo-boo bear?" she seductively asked. "very ah, ah much." As she went to pull his pants down Bobby's phone began to ring. "ugh, just ignore it" she said as she unbuttoned his pants. Just as she pulled his dick out Bobby's phone started ringing again, "just shut that thing off or put it on silent." Lori said. Bobby reached for his phone, seeing it was his sister, he had to answer it, she never calls unless something is wrong or she needs him.

"hang on babe it's Ronnie, she never calls unless its important, this will just take a minute, promise." Bobby said as he answered the call.

Finally getting an answer, Ronnie started telling her brother about everything going on and that she needs him to pick them up. "whoa ok just stay put I'll be right there!" Bobby said in a panic. Putting his cock back in his pants Bobby got up grabbing his keys and telling Lori they need to go, "Babe Ronnie is with Lincoln and Luan, Luan is hurt and she needs help." Lori's eyes widened at the mention of her sister's name "Alright where are they?"

While Lincoln and the others waited for Bobby, his thoughts were racing, his eyes darting back to Luan's bite mark. _"no it can't be, zombies aren't real so stop thinking like that, it was just some crazy guy. Nothing more."_ Luan could feel her brother's worry and she wondered what he was thinking about. "hey Linc?" Lincoln turned to face her "what's wrong are you worried about this, it doesn't even really hurt anymore, it's not like Mr. Jones was a zombie or… anything" Luan stopped as she thought about all the ambulances and cops speeding around, the panicked people she saw, no it couldn't be.

"Luan… what did Mr. Jones look like, I mean did he look normal to you, or was he..." Lincoln started not wanting to finish his sentence, Luan thought back, everything happened so fast she didn't think anything of it, but Mr. Jones… he had a bite mark on his shoulder. Luan's eyes were suddenly filled with fear and sadness as she realized what was going on. "no, no it can't be, this is just some nightmare, this isn't real!" Luan said her voice rising as she continued to think about what this meant.

Lincoln's fears were confirmed as he saw Luan start breaking down in front of him and tears started to well up In his eyes, Luan was infected. He knelt down to Luan hugging her tightly, not wanting to let go because he knew that it wouldn't be long before he would have to. They were pulled out of their moment when they heard horns blare and tires screeching near them.

Looking out towards the road, they saw two cars nearly collide as one of them crashed into a telephone pole near the group. As they looked up they saw the pole coming down and it was gonna land right on top of them. Everything slowed down for Luan as she saw the pole coming down and realized it was gonna hit her and her brother, she knew deep down that this was real and that she was already dead. But Lincoln could still make it, and she put her hands on Lincoln's chest and shoved him out of the way just before the pole came down; she kept her eyes on the pole as it was about to hit her and then everything went dark as it came down on her body.

Before he knew what happened Lincoln was shoved onto the sidewalk as the pole came down. Opening his eyes he groaned as he got up, his eyes widened as Ronnie screamed nearby, Luan pushed him out of the way… but she didn't make it out, he saw her underneath the pole, a pool of blood forming underneath her. Lincoln just sat there motionless as he blankly stared at Luan's corpse, not believing what he was seeing, not wanting to.

"L, L, Luan? Come on Luan talk to me, stop playing around! I know you love your jokes but this isn't funny! Get up! P, please get up!" Lincoln shouted as tears started to stream down his face. "L, Lincoln..." Ronnie called out to him as he looked and saw the same sadness in her eyes, he needed her, and she ran to him without a second thought, pulling him into a loving embrace as they cried together. Lincoln's wails could be heard a mile away as he felt like a part of him was just ripped away, torn from inside him.

Speeding to the street where Ronnie told him they'd be, Bobby drove as fast as he could since no one else was caring about the speed limits. It only took them about five minutes to reach the park, seeing the street sign Ronnie was talking about they drove around the corner to see a car crashed into a fallen pole. The car was smoking but they could see Lincoln and Ronnie holding on to each other, they looked like they were shaking. Pulling the car over Bobby and Lori rushed out to check on their siblings, Lori only saw Lincoln, she thought Luan was supposed to be here too.

They called out to their respective siblings as Lincoln and Ronnie turned to see them running towards them. Ronnie quickly ran into Bobby hugging him tightly as she cried into his arms, Bobby was scared, his sister hardly ever cries, Lori ran to Lincoln, holding him tight as he wailed into her chest, as Lincoln's legs gave out he collapsed into her arms as his tears kept coming without end. Lori just kept trying to shush him and tried to ask where Luan was, which just seemed to make him cry louder.

Lori was getting more worried now, she then looked beyond Lincoln and saw someone underneath the telephone pole, fear crept inside her mind as she realized what was going on. Not wanting to believe it she took held Lincoln's head up with her hands on his cheeks red and wet with his tears, his eyes puffy from the continued crying, she just asked him one thing. "is.. is t, that L, Luan? Please tell me its not her!" she asked pointing to the body behind him. Without turning around Lincoln just nodded before, before his crying intensified yet again. "no… nononono!" "babe" Bobby lightly said in a barely audible whisper. Lori just burst out into tears as she held onto Lincoln tighter, crying along with him, feeling the same way he did, like something was just ripped from inside her.

* * *

 **so yeah I went with Luan dying first this time. I changed my plans for other characters, some fates will be changed and some paths will be different. but everything will lead to the same ending I already have planned. I think I'll only do a few more chapters on this story before working on the sequel, then move on to the last part of this trilogy.**


	4. start of a friendship

**Hello all and welcome to a new chapter in "Finding Who Was Lost". This time we follow up on Richard and Lincoln in the present as they continue to bond and Lincoln finds out more about Richard.**

 **warning: This chapter contains rape, and no the victim does not enjoy it.**

* * *

 **Start Of a Friendship**

Lincoln shifted in his sleep as he relived that fateful day he lost his first sister, unaware of the figure standing over him, with rope in hand. The figure quickly got on top of Lincoln tying his hands together before Lincoln could react. As he was violently pulled from his sleep Lincoln tried moving his hands only to see that they were bound. Lincoln was starting to hyperventilate. "wha- whats going on! Rich! Help!" Lincoln screamed.

"Hey Linc what did ya need?" the figure above him said in the most caring way possible. As he knelt down so Lincoln could see him, Lincoln saw that it was Richard who was doing this to him. "w, what are you doing Rich? This isn't funny! Let me go!" Lincoln shouted. "Nah I like seeing you tied up, but there's something I'd like to see even more." Richard said with a mischievous grin as he moved closer to Lincoln, "No! NO! Stay back, get away!"

Richard ignored him as he straddled Lincoln's waist, holding Lincoln's arms above his head with one hand and using the other to slip under Lincoln's shirt. "p, p, please Rich don't do this, you said you were different. That was just a bunch of bullshit wasn't it?" Lincoln said with venom in his voice. Rich looked up to Lincoln and grinned, "yeah but when I saw you being taken by Jim on that balcony I knew that I had to have you! I needed to know what it feels like and you… you're the perfect one to be my first." Rich said as he ran his hand around Lincoln's stomach, feeling him out, taking his time before pushing his shirt over his head, then Rich started moving up to the boy's his chest.

"P, please stop." Richard just stayed silent as he began using his fingers to play with Lincoln's nipples, against his will Lincoln let out a light moan in response. "Ah see I knew you liked it when Jim fucked you." Rich commented.

"No I didn't! I hated every minute of it just like now!" Lincoln shot back. "Well I guess we'll see about that." Rich said as he went back to playing with Lincoln's nipples twisting, kneading them and pinching them between his fingers. Rich began licking and sucking on them, relishing in his taste as Lincoln whimpered in response. Lincoln thought he was finally safe from this but he wasn't, it was all a lie. Rich started trailing kisses down Lincoln's chest and stomach stopping just above his navel, Rich Looked back up to Lincoln and grinned.

Rich suddenly pushed forward and took Lincoln's mouth with his own, planting a kiss on Lincoln's lips, Rich forced his tongue inside as he continued to enjoy the taste of Lincoln's mouth, exploring every crevice. Finally indulging himself in his primal urges, Rich was in perfect bliss. Pulling away Rich saw the tears streaming down Lincoln's face, he simply smiled back at the boy, caressing his cheek with his hand before moving back towards Lincoln's pants.

Rich Placed a hand on Lincoln's crotch cupping him through his jeans as Lincoln's sobs intensified and he again pleaded Rich to stop. Richard just shook his head as he popped the button on Lincoln's jeans, slowly pulling the zipper down, Lincoln was trying to close his legs, anything to stop Rich from doing what he was about to do, but Richard just pulled them apart as he continued.

Richard began sliding Lincoln's pants down inch by inch, relishing in the slow burn, taking his time to enjoy this as long as possible, even as his erection was threatening to pierce through his pants. After sliding them down to Lincoln's ankles, Rich looked at Lincoln's underwear then back up at Lincoln's face, tears were still streaming down his face as he violently shook his head no. Richard just hooked his thumb into the waistband of Lincoln's underwear and pulled them down, finally seeing his prize. "There's what I was wanting, you look so great Lincoln, all bare for me to see." Rich said as he eyed Lincoln like a juicy steak. "SCREW YOU RICH!" Lincoln shouted out, trying to hide the fact that he was scared as hell on the inside. Richard frowned but then with a smile said "don't worry Lincoln I'm about to **screw** you."

Richard then took Lincoln's member in his hand slowly stroking it up and down, moving his face to play with Lincoln's nipples again. "I'll make you feel better than Jim ever did." He said as he picked up the pace, making Lincoln's penis more erect against the boy's will. After a few moments Richard moved his face down to Lincoln's penis. Opening up his mouth, Rich took Lincoln in his mouth. He began bobbing up and down, sucking and licking all he wanted earning the unwanted moans that Lincoln tried his best to keep silent as Rich continued his assault.

Against his will Lincoln could feel the sensation pooling from within him. _"No not for Rich damnit I won't give him the satisfaction"_ Lincoln thought, not wanting to climax from what Rich is doing to him. Stopping after a few more moments, Richard turned Lincoln so he was lying on his stomach, and he ran his hands up and down Lincoln's backside.

Rich grabbed hold of Lincoln's ass, groping him as he moved his face back up to Lincoln's. Lincoln could feel Rich's disgusting breath on the back of his neck as Rich whispered to him "you really have a nice ass Lincoln". Rich then spanked him a few times before spreading Lincoln's cheeks apart. "Alright Lincoln let's get you ready for the main event" Rich said as he buried his face in Lincoln's ass, digging his tongue into his hole.

Lincoln groaned in disgust and humiliation and against his will, pleasure. Rich started darting his tongue in and out, swirling it around, before taking his face out and replacing it with two of his fingers. As rich fingered Lincoln he kept hitting a spot that made Lincoln moan, _"G_ _oddamnit I can't keep it under control! I'm not enjoying this. So why is my body?"_ Rich had him right where he wanted him. After using his fingers to spread the boy's hole a bit, Rich freed his erection from his pants and lubed it up a bit before placing the tip against Lincoln's hole, forcing him to get on all fours.

"Rich I'm begging you please don't d, do this y, you said you'd help me n, not this. You can't." Lincoln pleaded one last time even though he knew it wouldn't work. "don't worry Lincoln, I'll still help you find your family. But I'm sure you'll forget about them when you see how good I make you feel." Rich then began pushing his erection inside Lincoln as he started screaming out.

"NNOOOOOOO!" Richard screamed as he awoke in a cold sweat, his heart racing, breathing rapidly, his whole body a shaking mess. Richard couldn't believe what he was thinking about, he was better than this, as he continued to hyperventilate he thought back to his dream, no nightmare. _"_ _I haven't had a dream like that in a long time, usually I don't dream of that stuff, it all comes across my mind while I'm awake.._ _."_ "Hey Rich a, are you alright? I, I heard you screaming." Richard jumped as he was pulled out of his trance by Lincoln.

His heart had calmed down but his breathing didn't, "Lin, Lincoln are you, are you okay?" Richard asked. "I'm not the one who looks like he just had the worst night of his life." Lincoln replied. Richard rapidly blinked his eyes, _"_ _I_ _t was just a dream Rich, just a dream._ _G_ _et a hold of yourself, you're probably scaring Lincoln"._ Sucking it up Rich slowly regained his composure. "Y, yeah Linc I'm fine dude, don't worry." Rich said as he gave Lincoln a thumbs up. Lincoln wasn't convinced but went back to his tent to grab his backpack, Rich turned away not wanting to look at Lincoln.

 _ **"**_ _ **H**_ _ **ey there friend long time no see, It looks like we have something to talk about again."**_ No. no we don't. _**"**_ _ **H**_ _ **ey Rich don't ignore me, I'm back to stay for a bit, I know we don't really talk anymore what with you**_ _ **trying to**_ _ **be a "hero" and all but now It's time for us to resume our little chats."**_ Richard tried not to Listen but his dark passenger wouldn't stop.

 _"_ _J_ _ust go away we have nothing to discuss."_ _ **"**_ _ **O**_ _ **h we have plenty to discuss Richard, for starters let's talk about that lovely dream you just had. wasn't it great? don't lie because I'll know."**_ _"Yeah of course there's a part of me that enjoyed that, but the part that matters, the part of me that_ _ **I**_ _am on a daily basis didn't like that at all. I do my best to think about that stuff as little as possible now, and it's been working."_

 _ **"**_ _ **Y**_ _ **ou keep telling yourself that Rich, just remember this "dark passenger" is as much a part of you as your boy scout side. That seems to be something you forgot along the way, so stop thinking there's two parts of you when it's all just you."**_ Richard just ignored it as he looked at his watch seeing it was half past five, Richard figured now was as good a time as any to get up, especially since he didn't want to fall back asleep. Richard pulled out his switch, starting up his save on Skyrim to lose himself in another world, something he hasn't needed to do recently. Lincoln walked out of the tent, seeing Rich as he was fighting an elder dragon on Skyrim.

"Playing this early in the morning Rich?" Lincoln asked. "I, I just needed to focus on something, I have some cereal in that first duffle bag there, go ahead and eat; I plan on us leaving here in a half hour". Richard replied. "aren't you gonna eat too?" Lincoln looked at Rich, concerned. Richard just shook his head. Lincoln didn't like seeing this side of Rich, the way his new friend was talking. He was sounding happy, but there was something else underneath that. Something like worry, or fear, Lincoln couldn't tell and decided to try and help him like Rich had done back at the hotel.

"Hey Rich?" Lincoln started. "yeah man?" Rich said, not even taking his eyes off the screen as he just finished off the dragon. "I see what you're doing and I'd rather you talk about it than lock it away in the back of your mind, you saw what that leads to". Richard just gave a slight glance out of his peripheral vision, still being silent.

"Look man just talk to me alright? You want to help **me** fix **my** mind? How can you do that if **you're** the one that needs help sorting through the crap in their head?" Lincoln asked, again sounding wise beyond his years. Sighing Richard finally put the switch in sleep mode and turned to face Lincoln. Telling Lincoln to sit on the ground in front of him, Rich regrettably told him his issue, leaving out the details of course.

"...wow um... ok." Lincoln said. "here" Rich said as he handed Lincoln his gun. "Take it. I know you want to shoot me now after hearing that so just go ahead". Lincoln just stared at Richard, he was scared by what Rich just told him but then he remembered what Rich said to Jim earlier. _"I know it's sometimes hard to live with these thoughts, Live with yourself and accept who you are, but it's possible. You aren't a monster because of what you were born as, just keep it all as fantasy, nothing more"._ Lincoln thought about that and what it must be like for Richard to have these intruding thoughts that he didn't want.

 _"Richard is always gonna have thoughts like this but that doesn't mean he'll act on them, hell the thought scares me but he's probably already looked at me in that way"._ _**"Yeah so kill him, like I said he just wants to fuck you**_ _ **and**_ _ **he just said he dreamed about it**_ _ **".**_ _"If he wanted to he_ _has_ _had more than enough moments to actually try. He said it's alright to fantasize so long as it doesn't go past that_ _and for right now I don't see him doing that. The fact that he told me about this says something about him_ _"._ _ **"**_ _ **I'm telling you Lincoln sooner or later he's going to make you his, just shoot him and be done with it".**_ _"No"._

"No". Richard looked up to Lincoln. "You said it yourself that these thoughts will never go away and when you try to avoid them or force them out it just makes them worse". Richard just continued to look at him. "You said that you'd never act, that everything would just stay as a fantasy? Well I don't like knowing that some of those fantasies could be about me, but I understand that you can't just ignore them, just try to keep me out of them".

Richard just felt tears overwhelm him, as he started crying. "I'm sorry Linc, I'm so sorry that it was someone like me who rescued you, someone you can never fully trust; I wish I was someone better".

Lincoln just looked to Rich with Pity, feeling like Rich beat himself up too much over being born with something he can't change. And while he was right, Lincoln would probably never be able to fully trust him, he trusted him enough to put his faith in him now.

Rich had talked about being on the brink of suicide, probably because he viewed himself as a monster, despite never doing anything. "Listen Rich, you're right. I might never be able to fully trust you, but I figure you'd rather die than offend right? Well that makes me think I can trust you to help me".

"Goddamn it Lincoln how are you so calm!? How can you be so understanding after what just happened to you for two weeks? I just told you I dreamed about raping you and you're just sitting there, like, like everything's fine!"

Lincoln just looked off to the side. "Well because, when I was taken to Jim, he barely wasted any time before screwing me, but you, all you've done is help me. You saved me from that hell. Tried to take my mind off of everything by helping me think about my family and you were there when I finally broke down. You've been the first person to help me in over two weeks and that makes me trust you, besides we both know you've had plenty of opportunities to… take me as well".

Richard just sniffled as he wiped his tears, finally calming down as he put his gun away and extended his hand, Lincoln did the same and they shook each other's hands in respect. "Thank you Lincoln, not just for those words, but for being who you are. You really are one of the best people in this world. Never lose that because we both know that there's far too many of the bad". Lincoln simply nodded in response with a warm smile on his face as they broke the handshake.

"Alright" Richard said as he wiped his nose. "let's have some breakfast before we head out. I think we'll leave some of the supplies here and make this the last outpost I need to finish the circle around my home. This spot has a good line of sight and most likely won't be found by anyone". Richard pulled out his map and marked the town, drawing a line between the two outpost on each side of it. Pointing to his house in the middle.

"That's where we are going. Once we get there we'll rest and relax for a few days before planning out how and where to find your family, sound good?" Richard asked. "yup" Lincoln replied. They began eating their cereal, but Lincoln noticed that Rich didn't use any milk with his and asked him why. "Well Linc unfortunately I have a ton of allergies, pretty much any dairy product, nut, including peanut butter. Basically the only stuff I stick to are fruits, vegetables, and any type of meat, mainly chicken. Oh and pasta.

Lincoln just stared wide-eyed at this. "So you're telling me you've never had chocolate, cake or anything like that!?". "Nope never". Rich replied. "wow that sucks, sorry Rich". "eh I'm used to it, can't miss what I've never had".

"So Rich would you mind telling me about… your issues. I'd like to try and understand you better". Rich just cast a confused glance at Lincoln before realizing what he meant by that. "o, oh um well... It's basically just like any normal attraction except mine is just focused mainly on kids. But that's doesn't mean I don't like people my own age or older. I've had fantasies about people I worked with or passed on the street, and I even look at "normal" porn". Lincoln continued to focus on Rich's words, feeling a bit better since Rich doesn't just fantasize about kids.

"Granted I've never really had a relationship with anyone, boy or girl, I've never really had a high opinion of myself no matter how much good I did on the outside I always felt like a piece of crap on the inside". Now Lincoln was beginning to understand him. "Hell I've never even kissed anyone. Never even tried to form a relationship with anyone, there were some who I felt like "hey they would get with me if I had the courage to ask" but I never did".

"Why not Rich? From what I've seen you seem like a good enough guy". Lincoln said feeling like Richard would be a hit with the ladies with how he acts. "I don't know Linc, I guess I was just scared of rejection, I didn't want anyone to confirm my thoughts that I was a loser so I just never tried and I never wanted to end up somehow hurting them".

"But enough about all that Little dude I don't want to gloom up this beautiful morning. I mean look at that sunrise!" Rich said in a faux British accent that reminded Lincoln of his sister Luna. Lincoln turned to see the mix of colors that made up the picture perfect sunrise forming from the other side of the world. Lighting up their side of the world and forcing the darkness back.

"Alright Lincoln let's set up a small camp here to store some stuff if we need to come back here". Lincoln nodded back to him, they left the tent, and stored one duffle bag filled with a mix of food water and ammo, as well as a few bottles of medicine and bandages.

"You know with that accent I think you'd be one of my sister's best friends". Lincoln said". "Wait which one? There so many". Rich replied, laughing a bit as he said it. "Luna. She like to talk with a British accent as well". "Hahahaha, that's great, out of all your sisters so far I think she's the one I'd like to meet the most, it sounds like me and her share a lot of similar tastes".

They loaded up their supplies and started heading back to Rich's hideaway. As they walked along the main road Lincoln decided to initiate a conversation. "So Rich, what type of place is this? Is it just some house or like a bunker or something?" Richard continued looking forward as he told him the latter. "Yeah it looks like one of those doomsday prepper's places except they didn't get the chance to use it" Richard finished with a shrug.

"So Rich are you gonna start?" Lincoln asked as he looked to Rich. "Hm?" "You said you'd tell me about yourself remember?" Lincoln reminded him of their deal last night. "Ooohh yeah. So anything you'd like to know first?" Rich asked. "Let's start with your family".

"Alright. So I'm the youngest child in my family, I have an older sister and brother. My mom and dad got divorced when I was like four or five, but after a few years they remained civil. Which I appreciated". Rich started. "Did they ever remarry to anyone?" Lincoln asked. "yeah both of them. My Dad married someone a couple years after my mom, and then my mom married my stepdad about five and a half years ago".

"If you heard my conversation with Jim, then you know that some of my family accepted me when I told them about my attraction, that was my mom, stepdad and my sister. I never felt like I needed to tell my dad and there was a reason I didn't tell my brother and his wife". Rich said as he stared off into the distance, lost in his thoughts.

Lincoln snapped his fingers in front of Rich's face. "Hey Rich you there? Anyone home?" "Huh oh yeah sorry, spaced out for a second". "Anyway the reason I didn't tell them was because they had three kids, one my brother had with someone else and another that my sister in law had before him. They only had one kid that was theirs." "So I'm guessing you were attracted to at least one of them?" Lincoln said in a cautious tone, not really wanting to even bring it up. "Yeah unfortunately, I really had something for one of them but the other two I never really thought of in that way." Rich told Lincoln how he would avoid his nephew half the time he was over, and hated that he got fidgety and annoyed whenever his nephew was over.

"I knew I would never do anything to him, he was family and even if he wasn't I couldn't hurt him in that way, I just don't have it in me". Rich said. "But there's a part of you that could, isn't there Rich?" Lincoln asked. _**"yeah that would be me boy".**_ Rich winced as his dark passenger was trying to screw him up again. "yeah Lincoln there is. But that part of me is stuffed so deep down that no one is ever going to see him. It's not like I have a craving for children or anything, the fact is that I will never act on any of this. But the thoughts are never going to go away, so like I keep saying: fantasy, not reality".

 _"Just go away, there's no need for you to be here. Lincoln forgave me for that dream and he's being nothing but understanding, like my family. So go away I'm already getting back to a place where you don't need to be here."_ _ **"N**_ _ **ah I like being back, you usually only let me out when you play with your dick and even then It's not really me being free like I am now."**_ _"Just shut up" "_ Go away".

"What was that Rich?" _"Damn"_ Richardthought. "Are you talking to that other side of you?" Lincoln looked down to the road. "I'm guessing it's because of me isn't it?". "Lincoln no, he's back because I let him in, not because of you". Rich sighed. They were getting off topic. "Alright that's enough about my family, anything else you want to know?" Rich said with a smile.

Lincoln thought about it for a minute. "Yeah tell me stuff about yourself, you know hobbies, likes and dislikes, etc."

"Ok, well you know I'm a big nerd, pretty much everything under the sun that falls under that description is me. I enjoy anime, bunch of different genres of movies, I have seen nearly every super hero movie they've come out with, though for some reason I could never get into Ace Savvy. I know you like him but I just could never get into him." Rich said with a shrug.

"Alright well I like you a lot less now". Lincoln joked. "Anyway, as you know I play a lot of video games, I've owned a ton of systems and back at this place I have a good amount of stuff we can play. I can play a little bit of the guitar, not really good with it now though so I've been starting to teach myself how to play it again. Maybe when we find your family Luna could help me with that."

"Yeah I'm sure she'd like that. On that note favorite type of music or band?" Lincoln asked. "Well I'm into the same as your sister, I like rock and most of it's sub-genres. I used to Like that band Rise Against a lot but I rediscovered a band late into 2015 called The Poets of The Fall and they quickly took my top spot."

"The first time I heard them was in this game called Alan Wake, they had one of their songs from a new album at the time on it and recorded a few more specifically for the game itself. I forgot about them until one day as I was playing through it again I heard that song and I immediately looked the band up; the rest is history, one song after the other. I wished I heard them sooner, and that they'd tour somewhere near here, but unfortunately they never toured in the U.S. before… all this."

Seeing that Richard was lost in thought again Lincoln decided to hold up his end of the deal. "So Lori is my oldest sister..." Lincoln started, grabbing Rich's attention. "She's seventeen, and was like a third parent to us, she was responsible for us when our parents weren't around. She could be bossy but I understood why, she needed to be strict like she was so we'd listen to her. She was in a relationship with... Bobby, who was the big brother of Ronnie-Anne… she was a, uh a close friend of mine"

Lincoln thought about her and the last time he saw her, when they laid down next to each other, staring into one another's eyes as Jim's men broke into their camp. "Jim's men attacked our camp, I heard a lot of shouting and went to help my family when one of them hit me in the back of the head, knocking me out; The last thing I heard was Ronnie calling out to me".

"She was your girlfriend then?" Lincoln blushed a little before nodding in response. "Well I'm sure your family was able to fend off the rest of Jim's men since I'm guessing he never brought any of them with you, and never talked about killing any of them. So all of them should still be together surviving wherever they are." Rich said as he tried to assure Lincoln they were alright.

"How much closer?" Lincoln asked. "It shouldn't be too much longer, maybe another hour, two tops." They continued walking along the road, branching off to a road on their right after a half hour. After turning on a few other streets they finally reached Richard's home. It was in some suburban neighborhood, half of the houses were painted the same ugly yellow color while the others were diverse in their looks. They could tell which people actually cared about how their homes looked, even after the apocalypse some of them still looked nice.

Heading to the cul-de-sac at the end of a street, Lincoln followed Rich to the house in the back, smack dab in the middle of the ring of houses. The house was an ugly shade of yellow and like Rich had said the house had a bunch of solar panels stuck to the top of it. "They even have more in the back yard that feed more power into the shelter underneath." Rich told Lincoln as they headed inside.

The inside of the house wasn't really anything special, most of these guy's money probably went to the bunker they made, but everything was so clean and looked like a maid still took care of the place. "Yeah I'm kind of a neat freak, I like cleaning, it keeps my mind focused and I feel some type of peace doing it. There's a door under the stairs here that leads down to the basement, that's where the door for the shelter is at". They headed into the basement, which was just like the house upstairs, clean and organized.

"Hey be sure to take your shoes off here I said I was a neat freak and I like to keep the bunker cleaner than upstairs, I don't really clean up there that often." Richard said as he pointed to a spot by the welcome mat in front of the door. Lincoln and Richard placed their shoes to the right side of the mat, Lincoln noticed there was a knife in the bottom of Rich's left shoe and looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh that... well you know how whenever a bad guy catches the hero in a movie and they check him for weapons? They never check the shoes. It can be a pain in the ass to walk on but I'm paranoid and prefer to be safe than sorry." "Well... ok then" Lincoln said, as he looked at Rich like he was a little crazy. Richard just shrugged and took out a key to unlock the door.

"The key was sitting in the nightstand in the upstairs bedroom, like I said, they unfortunately weren't here to use it, fortunate for us though". Rich said with a small frown across his face. "I make sure to thank them every night."

Rich turned the key and undid the latch across the door. Rich flipped a switch as they walked in and Lincoln was amazed by the view in front of him. There was a nice living are with a black leather couch sitting in the middle, in front of a big 55" TV. "that thing's 4k btw" Rich said with a smile. Next to the couch was a red recliner that had a cup holder on each arm rest. "ok how rich were these people!?" Lincoln rhetorically exclaimed.

"Enough to give me a place I could live in for the rest of my life. Like I said I make it a point to thank them every night, there's a picture in my room of the family, they looked so happy, I hate that I'm here and not them". "Anyway as you can see I have a xbox one x and ps4 hooked up by the TV. I have over three hundred on the Xbox between the hard drive and the two externals I use, yeah like I said. Big nerd."

Lincoln just looked at him like Rich was telling him he were Santa Claus. "yeah I know when one thinks of the apocalypse they think of the essentials but me? I like to be different. And now I have entertainment for a long time. Anyway there's a bunch that are just small indie games but I have a ton of different genres on there".

"Let me show you around" Rich said as he led Lincoln around the bunker, showing him the kitchen and dining room that were connected to the Living room, to the left of that was the store room where there was a ton of supplies that Rich has accumulated and some stuff from the family before him.

Heading out of the store room they went to the other side of the living room, going through the hallway on that end Rich showed Lincoln the bathroom on the first door on the right, Richard's room was the door just to the left, across from it. Richard showed Lincoln the room that would be his for now, it was the room next to Rich's.

There was a small supply closet on the other side of the hall, Rich mostly kept cleaning supplies in there. "and finally in case of an emergency they made a secondary exit that leads outside" Rich said opening the door and showing Lincoln the hatch that led out.

"So why don't you go get set up in your room while I make us something to eat." Rich said. Lincoln nodded as he headed into his room, it was much bigger than the one he had at his home before all this. Lincoln set his backpack against the foot of the bed as he sat down, taking in everything that had happened since yesterday, so much has gone by in only one day and he hasn't really gotten the chance to stop and think about any of it.

Just yesterday he was still a captive, failing to kill himself to escape, he had lost all hope, until he was awoken by shooting coming from inside the hotel. Jim undid Lincoln's chain as he moved him to the Living room, putting an arm around his throat as he waited for whoever was blasting his way to them. When Rich kicked the door open Lincoln jumped not expecting anyone to actually make it up here and kill everyone, this had to be a dream he thought.

When he heard Rich say that he was here for Lincoln, his heart started beating, hope finally filling Lincoln's soul, this guy was here trying to help him. This had to be a dream it felt to good to be true, but when Jim tightened his hold, hurting Lincoln in the process, he knew this was real and hoped this guy finished the job and got him out of here.

That whole moment went by in a blur but everything afterwards was put in slow motion as secrets were revealed, a dam had finally broke and relief was felt by someone long since given up hope. Lincoln closed his eyes as he drifted off to sleep feeling drained after the long walk to Rich's place.

Rich was at the dining table with a first aid kit, treating the gunshot wound on his shoulder, using a mirror to see his it as he painfully sewed it up. Putting a fresh bandage on it Rich stood up and put everything back as he began preparing dinner for Lincoln and him. Wanting to make something special since Lincoln probably hasn't had a decent meal in months.

 _"well good thing there's a recipe book here, all I know how to do is cook chicken and use an oven or microwave for all my food."_ _**"make sure to add some sleeping pills to Lincoln's, Rich."**_ _"alright I'm going back to ignoring you, you'll go away eventually, you always do."_ _ **"**_ _ **yeah but who knows how long that will take, you can only feel good for so long before things turn back to shit for you, this is the first time in a long time you're having to deal with stuff like this again".**_ Rich just turned his head to the side as he shut his eyes. Blocking out the thoughts as he turned on his phone and started playing his music, the only thing his phone was good for anymore as he decided on what to make for cook dinner.

Back in Lincoln's room Lincoln had drifted off to sleep, again dreaming about the days before Jim, back to the day his sister died...saving his life.

* * *

 **I am a bit surprised that there's been no comments/reviews but oh well I'll continue writing this anyway. I think it's going alright so far and that's all that matters. I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter, we're about halfway done with this part of the story and then I'll start work on the sequel "Returning Who Was Lost". Have a good night all.**


	5. start of their new life

**Hey everyone, here's the next flashback chapter as we close out on the first day of the outbreak. Got a few more chapters before I work on the sequel. As always review with any feedback and enjoy.**

* * *

 **The start of their new life**

Six months ago

Fifteen minutes had passed since Lori and Bobby arrived on the scene. Finding Luan dead and Lincoln inconsolable, Lori joined him after discovering why. The siblings held onto each other as they cried the hardest they ever had. They just lost the sister that brought them much joy and laughter over the years and now they'd never get that back.

As their choked sobs began to turn into silent weeping, Lori realized they now had the difficult task of telling their family their comedian is dead. "S, should we call an a, ambulance or something?" Lincoln finally said, breaking through his crying and wiping his tears. Lori said nothing as she stared at him, her mind a blank as her eyes wandered back to her sister.

She still couldn't believe this. She wanted this to just be another one of Luan's bad jokes, she'd rather hate her sister forever for that than… this.

"B, Bobby could you call them please?" Lori said. Not in any shape to talk about this, she couldn't bring herself to find the words. Bobby pulled out his phone and dialed 911, but instead of an operator he got an automated message: _"Due to a high amount of calls and emergencies all operators are busy, please hold until one is free. Apologies for the inconvenience"._ "Are you fucking kidding me… oops sorry Ronnie" Bobby said as he couldn't believe they're busy, that shouldn't even happen.

"Sorry babe but I can't get through, they played a stupid message saying all the operators are busy, which is bullcrap." Lori couldn't believe this. Just twenty minutes ago her and Bobby were taking the next step in their relationship. Sharing their bodies with each other, lost in the moment as if nothing else mattered but them in that spark of passion. Then all of that was ripped away and her day turned into complete shit.

"L, L, Lori wha, what are we gonna do?" Lincoln asked, as tears started welling up in his eyes, it was just one bad thing after the other and he couldn't handle it. But Lori didn't see the hurt in his eyes and without turning back to him, shouted "I don't know, damnit Lincoln just let me think for one second!"

Lori turned and she immediately felt like shit, she shouldn't have done that, he doesn't deserve it, he's probably feeling worse than she is.

He started crying again after her outburst and she pulled him into another hug as she calmly stroked his back. "I, I'm sorry Linc I didn't mean to shout at you I'm just..." "overwhelmed" Lincoln said between sobs. "y, yeah" Lori replied.

Wiping away her tears, she turned to Bobby and said "w, we can't get an ambulance here? Then we'll just take her to the hospital ourselves."

Lori walked over to the pole that had crushed her sister, staring blankly at her body. A small part of her holding out some hope that she was just unconscious and that they could save her, but she knew better, she saw her body and knew she was gone. Lincoln slowly walked over and joined her as they knelt down to life the pole off of their sister. Lori moved to pick Luan up but Lincoln held his hand up as he knelt back down to do it instead.

Lincoln grunted as he lifted Luan's body into his arms, carrying her bridal style. Struggling as he did his best to hold her, his legs shaking trying to support the added weight. Lori wiped away more tears as she watched her brother carry their sister over to Bobby's car. _"_ _T_ _hat's just like him, always taking care of us, to the bitter end."_ When he got closer, Bobby offered to take her but Lincoln just snapped at him "No!... I have her."

Lincoln hated that he just snapped at him like that but he needed to do this for her, she was his sister. He should have been there with her at the party, they planned it a few days before hand.

But then they all told him to take a day for himself, and insisted they'd be fine, that he should enjoy his day. But he wasn't enjoying it, far from it. This was the worst day of his life. Maybe if he was there he could've saved her. Or a the very least taken her place, he'd give his life for any of his sisters no matter what.

When he reached the passenger side back door, Ronnie-Anne opened it for him as he placed Luan in the backseat. He was going to be uncomfortable sitting next to her but he couldn't stick her in the trunk he wouldn't feel right if he did that. Bobby called his mom to have her meet them outside the hospital when they got there, just telling her there was an emergency, but he and Ronnie were alright.

Bobby got into the driver seat as Lori got in the passenger seat, with Ronnie-Anne behind Bobby, and Lincoln in the middle between her and his sister. The ride to the hospital was dead silent, save for the occasional whimpers and sniffs coming from everyone.

Ronnie held out her hand for Lincoln and he took it as he laid his head down on her shoulder. Bobby looked in the rear-view mirror at them and extended his own hand to Lori. She looked to it before looking up at his face. He looked at her with sympathetic eyes while hers were still red and puffy from the amount of crying she's been doing. She took his hand just as they hit heavy traffic on their way to the hospital.

Bobby needed to break the awkward silence and decided to turn on the radio to see if there's any news update on what's going on. **_"We repeat everyone needs to make their way to the shelters set up by the government for safety."_** Everyone focused on the radio as the news broadcast warned of the virus quickly spreading around town.

 _ **"The government has issued a state of emergency, the virus does not seem to be airborne but instead transferred through bites from those already turned by the infection. If you have been bitten then the government urges you to head to the hospitals instead for treatment. Those uninfected need to head to the CDC shelters to prevent the outbreak from spreading."**_

"L, Lori..." Lincoln spoke up from the back. Lori turned to her brother as he picked up Luan's left arm, revealing the bite mark on her wrist. Lori held a hand to her mouth, her sister was infected before she died and that meant one thing.

"Bobby, get us out of here now!" Lori said. "Babe I can't get out of here the traffic is backed up, we still have two blocks to go." Bobby replied. Lori couldn't believe this, it all had to be a dream, zombies aren't real. They're just fictional monsters. Lori just wanted to wake up already, this can't be real, zombies can't be real, and her sister can't be dead so she must be having a nightmare. Soon she'll wake up in her bed and everything is gonna be fine, and back to normal.

"I, I don't know how much longer it will take but soon she's gonna turn and at that point she, she won't be… L, Luan anymore." Lincoln brought Lori out of her thoughts they needed to get to the hospital fast.

 _"We're stuck and we can't carry her out of here what if she turned while we were..."._ Everyone went dead silent as they heard a low growl coming from the backseat. Everyone turned as they saw Luan's body start to twitch as she raised her head up and looked at all of them. "oh no" Lincoln quickly undid his and Ronnie-Anne's seat-belt as they slid against the driver side door.

Luan lunged at them as everyone screamed. Stuck by her seat-belt, her arm stopped a few inches from Lincoln's face as he turned and shut his eyes, scared and not wanting to look at his sister as she is now, wanting to just remember her as she was.

"Luan stop!" Bobby yelled from the front. "It's not h, her anymore she's dead and this monster is all that's left" Lincoln said quietly.

Ronnie glanced behind her and undid the door lock, opening the door as her and Lincoln went tumbling out onto the pavement.

Luan continued to try and break free from the belt and grab at them before turning to grab Lori in the passenger seat. Grabbing a handful of Lori's hair as she screamed. Luan growled as she leaned forward, pulling Lori's head back, trying to take a chunk out of Lori's neck.

"BABE!" Bobby quickly undid his seat-belt as he lunged to pull Lori's head away from Luan's grasp. Bobby struggled as he tried to free her, finally managing to free Lori, Bobby couldn't react quick enough though before Luan grabbed his arm and pulled his hand towards her. Biting down on his hand as he screamed out.

Bobby repeatedly punched Luan in the head as she finally let go of his hand. Lori and Bobby rushed out of the car as Luan continued to viciously growl and claw at the window, blood around her mouth.

"Bobby! Oh my god are you alright?" Lori shouted as she rushed over to his side. "No! Bobby!" Bobby turned to look at his little sister as her body was shaking, she held up one hand to her mouth and used the other to point at his hand; tears forming in her eyes.

He didn't realize what was wrong until he felt the burning pain in his right hand. Looking down at it he saw the bite mark as blood was dripping from the wound. Bobby just stared at the bite, holding his wrist with his left hand as his whole body started to shake. "no… nononono NO! Fuck! Fuck!" Bobby screamed as he began to remember what the news said. He was infected and that meant he was already dead. In his anger Bobby punched the hood of his car, causing more damage to his already bitten right hand.

"Bobby! Alright screw the car we need to go to the hospital right now, maybe they're working on a cure or something. Maybe at least a way to slow this down until they do. You can't die. Not you, not after… Luan" Lori said, hoping that her boyfriend wasn't going to suffer the same fate as her sister.

"Come on guys we are leaving right now! The hospital is only a couple blocks away." Lori said as she took Bobby's hand and started to lead him away with Ronnie-Anne quickly following behind. "B, but Lori what about… her?" Lincoln said. Not wanting to leave his sister trapped in the car, stuck as this, this thing. Not to mention she could also manage to infect someone else. As Lincoln looked into her eyes, he could still see some of his sister in those dead eyes and he needed to set her free.

He couldn't leave her like that, but that meant that he'd have to … _"I, I don't know if I can. She's still Luan even if she's… like this. But I can't leave her here like this, I_ _ **need**_ _to do this."_

Lincoln grabbed Ronnie-Anne's bat that she left on the car floor. "Lincoln what are you doing?" Lori asked him in a stern tone concerned for his intentions and his mental state. Lincoln said nothing as he walked around the back of the car, towards the passenger side backdoor. His heart beating fast as he felt an incredible weight in his chest, he started having a hard time breathing. "Lincoln...". Lincoln swung the door open as Luan lunged out still trapped by the belt. "Lincoln! What the hell are you doing!? Let's just go!".

"No! I need to do this. We can't just leave her here like, like… this. It's not right." Lincoln stared at Luan as she continued to try and grab on to him. "I'm sorry Luan… I should have been there to protect you. If it wasn't for your stupid "free day" decision then I would've been there. I could've saved you! Or at the very least taken your place!" Lincoln was raising his voice, shouting as tears once again streamed down his face.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't there and now you're gone. It should've been me! It should be me!"

Lincoln suddenly felt a sting on the right side of his face as it was slapped to the side. He softly held a hand up to it as he turned and saw Lori with her hand raised like she just threw a right hook. "Lincoln Loud! Don't you dare say that!". Lori shouted. "you couldn't have prevented any of this. No one could've known this was going to happen. What's going on is literally crazy and none of it is your fault, so don't feel like you're to blame for any of this! None of this is on you."

Lincoln just continued to hold his cheek as it still hurt, Lori sure knew how to slap someone. Lincoln thought about what she was saying, knowing deep down that she was right. He shouldn't be blaming himself for this, but he still feels like it should've been him, he wouldn't tell her that though.

Lincoln looked back down at Luan, feeling a new sense of determination and rage pooling inside him as he gripped the bat tightly in his hands. Before Lori could react and stop him, Lincoln screamed as he brought the bat over his head and slammed it down on Luan's head.

Momentarily stunned but still moving she slowly raised her head back up, leaning forward and lightly growling as she continued to try and weakly grab at her prey.

Lincoln raised the bat again as Lori turned away, not wanting to watch what her brother was doing but knowing it needed to be done. Lincoln brought the bat down again, this time cracking Luan's skull and smashing her brain, "killing" her again.

Lincoln fell to his knees, breathing heavily, before his breaths turned ragged, choked sobs soon followed as he wept again over Luan's second "death".

Lori held onto him as he dropped the bat, and returned her embrace. Bobby and Ronnie-Anne were just stunned as they watched the scene unfold before them. Looking over to her brother with tears forming in her eyes Ronnie ran over to Bobby, hugging him tightly as she thought that the same thing was going to happen to him before long.

"Bobby! Y, you can't die! I don't want you to turn into one of those things, there's gotta be something we can do. Mom must have something. We need to get you to her so she can cure you and then everything will be fine. Right?"

Ronnie-Anne began wailing as she buried her head into her brother's chest. Bobby felt his heart break into a million pieces, his sister never cried like this before and he hated that it was because of him. This was a side he never wanted to see from her, he was glad she was always a tough girl because he never had to worry about her being upset like this.

Lincoln and Lori looked over to the Santiago siblings as they realized that the same thing would be happening to them as well. "I, I need to call mom, tell her things have changed." Bobby said, devoid of any emotion. Bobby phoned his mother, hoping she would know what to do.

"Bobby? what's going on? I thought you guys were heading up here." "M, mom the emergency I told you about earlier just got a lot worse. Lori's sister Luan had, she had died and we were bringing her over since the ambulances were all busy. But she was infected and she turned in the car, attacking us." Bobby began breathing heavily, not wanting to say the words, because he knew he was about to shatter his mother's heart.

"p, please baby don't say what I think you're about to say… please don't". "As I was trying to pull her away from Lori she, she bit my hand. I'm infected."

Bobby heard crying on the other end as his mother burst into tears, that was all the confirmation he needed to know he was going to die. There was no cure. "d, don't come to the hospital Bobby! They..." she began to whisper so no one else would hear her, she didn't want the patients to panic more than they already were.

"They're not quarantining any of the infected, instead they are taking them down into the morgue and killing them. I heard the gunshots when I was walking by. I'm leaving right now! Go home and we'll figure this out."

Bobby looked over to Lori, he wanted to be with her. He needed to be with her, but he knew she needed to be with her family too. "Mom we're going to be at Lori's place I, I, I just need to...". "Bobby I understand, I'll come there, how is your sister doing?" Bobby handed the phone to Ronnie. "M, mom? Please tell me there's some cure or treatment that can help him… I, we can't lose him."

Maria didn't want to lie to her daughter, there was nothing they could do except be there for Bobby and it's crushing her heart knowing that her only son is going to die. And there's nothing she can do about it. "Honey we'll talk about it when I see you guys… everything's going to be okay." Ronnie-Anne wasn't buying it. She could hear the hurt in her mother's voice, she knew the truth.

"B, bye mom". Ronnie coldly said as she hung up the phone. Lori and Lincoln finally broke their hug and started walking over to them. Everyone tried to collect themselves as they started heading back to the Loud House, Lincoln looked back at Luan's corpse one last time as he whispered "I'm sorry" in a volume that no one else could hear. The cars that were behind Bobby's car beeped their horns at them as they walked past, Bobby just flipped them off as he spat out "fuck off!"

* * *

 **Thirty minutes ago, Loud House**

Lisa was still in her room, pacing back and forth as she realized the scale of the situation they were in. Their family was thirteen strong and she hoped the shelter would have enough spots to accommodate everyone, they needed to hurry though. She needed to tell her mom about the pandemic so they can leave as soon as possible.

She ran downstairs into her parent's bedroom as she told Rita that they needed to leave, telling her to turn on the news to see the government warnings.

Rita turned on the television, which was playing the same automated message that was playing on every radio station. "oh god" Rita said in horror as she couldn't believe the fact that the dead were rising, this has to be some joke. She thought this was some sick joke from her daughter but when she looked at Lisa she saw the worry in her eyes and knew this was real, Lisa couldn't fake that look.

"Alright honey I need you to go get everyone in here, excluding Lori, Lincoln and Luan since they're out. Luna is in the garage and Leni is up in her room, everyone else is out back".

As Lisa rounded everyone up into the living room, their mother tried calling her husband, but to no avail. The phone kept going to voicemail as soon as she called. _"Damnit Lynn don't you dare leave me! I need you here."_ Rita thought as she was beginning to worry.

Once everyone was gathered in the living room Rita told her kids to start gathering their belongings and some supplies as they needed to be out the door as soon as everyone else made it home. The kids rushed to their rooms to gather a few personal belongings before heading back down into the living room.

Luna made a bag for Lincoln so they could leave as soon as they got back. Leni did the same for Lori and Lana made a bag for Luan. Rita called Lori next hoping she would answer and get Luan and Lincoln to follow her back.

* * *

As they were ten minutes from the Loud House Lori's phone rang and she dreaded answering, knowing her mother would be on the other end. No doubt already seeing the news and worrying about them… about Luan.

Seeing her mom as the caller id Lori hesitated, not wanting to answer. She couldn't talk to her right now especially if she asked about Luan. "Babe?" Bobby noticed she wasn't answering and when he looked at who was calling he understood why.

"Here let me talk to her." Bobby offered. "T, thank you… I just… can't right now". Bobby took her phone and answered. "Mrs. Loud? Hi it's Bobby" "Bobby? Can you put Lori on I need to talk with her, it's urgent." Rita responded.

"Um she's not really able to talk… something happened and she isn't really good to talk right now, she's fine though don't, don't worry. We're walking back to your house now." Bobby informed her trying to ease her worry without telling her about Luan, he just hoped she wouldn't bring her up.

"you sure she's alright? I was going to tell her to go get Luan and Lincoln before heading back here". There it was. Maybe he didn't need to tell her yet, they were already so close that he could tell her he'd personally go back out, and that Lincoln was already with them. "Well we're already close, like maybe five minutes away, we'll just come there first. Is that alright? Lincoln is already with us, my sister too."

Rita hated that Luan was on her own right now especially in this mess, but if they were already that close then it'd take much longer for them if they needed to go back for her. "y, yeah that's fine… just hurry alright I'm getting stressed out about all this". "Sure thing Mrs. Loud, bye".

Bobby hung up the phone as he handed it back to Lori. "Thank you for that Bobby I… just couldn't, not if she mentioned Luan". "I know". As they walked through the front door they saw the kids running around and Rita sitting on the couch as she turned to look at the group.

She was scared now, she noticed how red their eyes were and how stained their shirts were with what she assumed were tears. They looked horrible, and then she noticed Bobby's hand, seeing the bite mark. "w, what happened!?"

* * *

 **Thirty minutes ago, Royal Woods market**

"Come on Lynn, let's get into your van we're gonna need the space." Harold said as he started loading up his supplies in the back. "W, wait are we not going to talk about what just happened? You just killed that man! Sure he was attacking me but you didn't need to kill him." Lynn exclaimed, surprised by his friend's calm tone as he just acted like nothing happened.

"Listen Lynn I'll explain on the way to your house but we need to go! There's a pandemic going on." Harold told him.

Lynn put Lily in the car seat as Harold jumped in the front seat. Lynn got into the driver side starting the car. They pulled out of the parking lot, which was starting to fill with panicked people. On the way to the Loud house Harold called his husband, Howard to tell him about the change of plans, telling him to bring the car over to the Loud house and he would meet Howard and Clyde there.

"alright can you please tell me what's going on and why everyone is going crazy now?" Lynn asked.

"Alright so our friend called us at Seven in the morning, warning us of the virus that's been quickly spreading across not just the country, but the world. He told us that he'd make sure we would have a reserved spot at the nearest shelter but to leave as soon as possible." Harold began as he filled Lynn in on what his friend said about the virus and what the government is doing about the virus, trying to contain it as best they can.

"This, this is crazy are you seriously telling me that the dead are coming back to life? I thought that crap wasn't real that it was all just dumb fiction in movies and whatnot". Lynn believed that his friend was talking crazy and that this was some other strange virus. Zombies couldn't be real, Harold must be joking with him.

"I'm sorry Lynn but this is all too real, once we get to your house we need to make sure everyone is together and we'll head up to the shelter. I'm sure our friend will take you guys in too, I can't leave you all behind. You've been an important part of our life, your family has been great to us and Lincoln has been a real friend to Clyde. We were so glad when he met Lincoln, Clyde didn't really have any friends before him and now he has a nice group he hangs out with.

* * *

"W, what happened!?" Rita asked, scared at the state of her children. Without any words Lincoln and Lori just ran up to their mother and held onto her, their tears coming back to them as Lori buried her head into her mom's shoulder while Lincoln did the same around her waist.

Rita hugged them back, now more worried than before. She looked to Bobby and Ronnie-Anne, but Bobby looked away from her glancing off to the side. Rita lightly cupped Lori's head in her hands, looking into her red eyes as she asked her again what happened. Lori hated to say it out loud. She really didn't want to, not to her mom, how could she say _luan's dead._ But she needed to tell her sooner or later, mustering up the strength she finally managed to get the words out.

"I, It's Luan… she, she… she's gone". Rita's heart stopped as she tried to just register what her eldest told her, she must have heard her wrong. Luan couldn't be. "L, Lori please tell me I heard you wrong, don't tell me Luan is..." She looked down to Lincoln as he held onto her even tighter, starting to wail into her side. "No… no please tell me you're wrong she, she can't be! Stop joking around damnit this isn't funny!"

All of the kids stopped what they were doing as they watched their oldest sister and brother bawl their eyes out while holding onto their mom. They were all getting worried, especially as they heard what their mother was saying. Mom..." Lola spoke up as she looked to Lincoln's eyes, seeing the tears stream down his face and that his face was still red from the emotional turmoil he's been through.

"Guys what's going on… what happened out there?" Luna asked, scared of what their answer was going to be. Lincoln broke from his mother as he ran to his sisters, pulling Luna into a tight hug as he began crying into her shirt. "Whoa bro… w, what's wrong what happened?"

"I, it's… Lu, Luan… she… she, she's gone! she's dead! a, and there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it!" Lincoln started to say through choked sobs before he began screaming out. The gasps of the sisters could be heard over their siblings crys as they looked to their brother as he broke down and then back to their mother and Lori.

This wasn't happening. They noticed Bobby and Ronnie-Anne still standing in the doorway and when he looked back at them he just nodded, giving them the last bit of confirmation they needed. Everyone formed up in a group hug as they all fell to their knees, their crying intensifying as their mother broke down in front of them. Rita and Lori quickly joined the hug as everyone began crying their eyes out, their wails could be heard around the entire block as Bobby and Ronnie just looked on in heartache.

It wasn't too long before Howard and Clyde pulled up to the Loud House. Seeing the front door open, they decided to head inside, not knowing what awaited them as they heard a large amount of crying coming from inside and feared something terrible happened.

* * *

After driving through heavy traffic Lynn and Harold were only five minutes from the house, when Harold's phone rang. "Howard? what's wrong, whoa, whoa slow down what happened?" Harold's eyes widened when Howard told him about Luan, he asked how far away they were and Harold told him just a few minutes, he hung up the phone as he cast a sad glance at Lynn.

Lynn didn't notice it but asked him what happened, Harold just said that he needed to get home now. Lynn stepped on the gas as he rounded the corner onto Franklin avenue, pulling up to his house.

Lynn heard the crying coming from inside and was overcome with fear and worry, he didn't want to know what the cause of that crying was. Holding Lily in his arms he opened the door to see his family huddled together in a tight embrace. "um guys? W, what happened?"

"Dad!" Everyone ran up to Lynn as they formed a new group around him, crying as they held onto him. Lynn was beyond worry now and after looking to his kids he noticed Luan wasn't among them, and now his heart stopped he didn't want to know why she wasn't. He didn't want to live a parent's worst nightmare. Looking to his wife, Lynn stared into her eyes as he knew it was true seeing her eyes red with tears still streaming down her face.

His own eyes began welling up with tears as he knelt down and embraced his kids, his heart shattering into a million pieces as he realized his family was never going to be whole again, and that his comedic daughter was gone.

After a few moments the house was dead silent, save for a few whimpers and cries coming from nearly everyone in the room. Bobby had walked out into the backyard, not being able to stomach the scene anymore. His sister quickly followed behind him.

The McBrides, excluding Clyde who was now trying to comfort his best friend while not breaking himself, were standing off to the side. It took fifteen minutes before everyone had started to calm down, other than the occasional choked sobs and blowing of noses between some of the Louds.

Outside, Bobby and Ronnie-Anne were sharing their own moment of profound sadness.

Ronnie was taking it harder than her brother, even though he was the one who was going to die. After he realized he was going to die he cried with his sister but once they began heading to the Loud House he hadn't shed one single tear. He was more scared than anything, he was scared of what awaited him on the other side, he had faith in God and all that but now his faith was fading.

He tightly held onto his sister, trying to calm her down the best he could. He wished their mother was here, even though he didn't want to see her crying too, he needed her support and so did Ronnie. She would know what to do, unlike him. He felt like he was failing his sister, not being able to ease the burden she now carried.

Harold hated what he was about to do but they needed to get ready to leave. That shelter would only be able to accommodate so many people before there was no space left. Then they'd have to try and find somewhere else. Even though their friend in the government was going to save them space, the same couldn't be said for the Loud's and Santiago's.

Clearing his throat, Harold walked up to Lynn and Rita who were on the couch with the twins flanking them on each side. "Um hey guys, I know this is the worst time, but all of us need to start heading to that shelter. They'll only have so much space". Lynn looked up to him with hurt eyes, he knew his friend was right but Lynn's family had just lost one of their own, they needed time.

"I, I know that Harold! But we, we just-" Lynn began before being interrupted by Rita. "We already have bags packed, but are still waiting on Maria, when she shows up we can leave". Harold turned away, their friend could only save so many spots. And what's worse is that Bobby is infected, they wouldn't let him in, no matter how hard they tried.

"Rita… Bobby's infected, they won't let him in. And I hope not but they might do worse when they find that out". Lori suddenly turned her head to look at Harold, as she realized what he meant. Bobby couldn't come with them and if he tried the government would take care of him themselves. Maybe even experiment on him to try and understand this bullshit. She broke her hug with Leni as she quickly stepped out of the room, walking towards the backyard.

Rita's heart grew even heavier with hurt as she watched her daughter walk out. This was probably even worse for her, she not only lost a sister today but she was now going to lose her first love. Rita feared for her eldest, she already had so much on her shoulders and now this day probably added ten tons of weight to that burden.

* * *

When Lori walked out onto the back porch she saw Bobby and Ronnie in a loving embrace on the steps. And she hated that she was about to break that up.

She walked behind them before asking Ronnie if she could head inside for a moment so her and Bobby could talk. She hated herself for asking but she **needed** to have this moment alone with him.

Looking into Lori's eyes, Ronnie could see the hurt in her before turning back to Bobby. He was looking to Lori with tears finally starting to well up in his eyes. The first tears she's seen since he got bit.

Ronnie-Anne gave her brother the best smile she could muster before hugging him one more time as she got up to leave. Stopping in front of Lori she pulled her into a tight embrace as she told her "take care of him, he needs you". Lori stood there stunned, this was the first time Ronnie was being this emotional with her. She quickly returned the hug. "T, thank you Ronnie. Lincoln and Clyde are back inside the living room, I'm sure they could use your support now as well".

Ronnie-Anne nodded as she opened the door and headed inside, leaving the two to their privacy.

Lori sat next to Bobby on the steps. Looking out into the yard for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. She turned to Bobby, looking into his eyes she could see the tears that were forming and she nearly broke right there. She had never seen her boyfriend cry like this before.

"B, Bobby I don't know what to say here… I mean just this morning we were locked in a moment of such, such... bliss. Everything else just faded away, until that damn phone call. Then it all turned to fucking shit! I, I can't handle all this! I just lost a sister, I, I can't lose you t-".

Bobby interrupted her by pulling her into a loving embrace, locking his lips with hers. If he was going to die he wanted to savor every moment he could be with her before all of it was gone. Before **he** was gone.

As his mind focused on that fact his heart sank, and he started pulling his head away. But Lori put her hand on the back of his head, pulling him closer as she turned her head to the side, deepening their kiss, trying to make him forget everything else.

Tears streamed down their faces as they finally broke the kiss "I, I'm scared Lori, I, I don't wanna die! I can't. There's still so much I want to do, so much I **need** to do. If this doesn't blow over and the world is reduced to ashes, I, I won't be there for you all and that thought scares the shit outta me".

Lori just watched as her boyfriend broke down in front of her. He was dying and there was nothing anyone could do about it, but there was something else she could do.

Looking into his eye's she knew how she could ease his pain. How she could help him and he could help her. If this was his last day, if this was their last day together, then she wanted to make it as easy as she could for him.

"Come on" Lori said as she took his hand in hers, pulling him up and leading him towards the house, as he looked at her confused. "We're going to my room". Lori lead Bobby back inside as they passed everyone in the living room. Saying nothing as they headed upstairs to Lori and Leni's room.

Rita knew what her daughter was doing and had half a mind to stop her, but she wondered if she really should. Lynn put a hand on her shoulder as she turned to look into his eyes, he shook his head. Telling her to let them be, this was going to be their last day together and they needed this. It would be their last chance.

The younger kids had no idea why Lori and Bobby were going upstairs, but Lincoln and his friends had some idea on why, and they decided not to think about it. Lynn Jr. and Luna knew why and had mixed feelings on the situation.

Their sister just died, Bobby was infected and they were just going upstairs to screw each other, fuck like nothing else was going on. Lynn Jr. was angry. She couldn't believe they were screwing each other at a time like this. Luna understood but still didn't feel good about it. She knew that Bobby was going to be gone soon and this was probably their only chance but Luna still didn't like it.

Leni meanwhile was being her usual self. She didn't get what was going on but decided not to ask anyone about it. She was still trying to deal with her sister being gone, everything was too much for her.

* * *

As Lori lead Bobby into her room, she shut the door. Locking it before turning back to Bobby and locking her lips with his in another passionate kiss. Her tongue begged for entrance and he gladly gave it, everything once again faded away as Bobby threw off his green jacket. Lori began pushing Bobby back towards her bed, breaking the kiss before shoving him down on the bed. Lori took off her blue tank top, straddling Bobby's waist as she leaned in for another kiss. Bobby's hands wandered to her ass as he rested them there, giving it a tight squeeze before giving it a light smack as Lori grinded against his crotch. Lori ripped Bobby's shirt off before crashing her lips down on his neck, planting tender kisses against his skin, making Bobby moan in pleasure. Her hands roamed along his body, exploring his abs before moving to his chest.

Moving her mouth away from his neck she began peppering his chest with kisses and teased his nipples, earning her more groans from Bobby. Bobby moved his hands to Lori's chest, cupping her breasts over her bra. Lori quickly unhooked it and threw it aside as Bobby rolled her over, laying on top of her as he brought his mouth to her breasts, sucking away at one as he used his hand to play with the other, tweaking her nipple in his hand.

He planted kisses along her body as he reached her shorts, quickly undoing the button and zipper. Pulling them away and taking her underwear with them. Lori moved her hands down to his belt undoing it and throwing it to join her clothes on the floor. Bobby moved his head down to Lori's already wet crotch, using his tongue to tease her before starting to eat her out. She started to moan louder. "Oh god Bobby how are you so good at this!?" "I might've looked some stuff up before you came over, heh heh." Lori was trying to keep her voice down so they wouldn't hear her downstairs.

She wasn't as successful as she would've hoped.

Some of the family downstairs could hear them and Lynn Jr's face twisted in disgust, while her father and mother left to their room. Taking Lily and the twins with them. They didn't want the kids to hear them, and neither did they.

Luna decided to try and drown them out as she picked up her guitar and began playing for everyone. The McBride's were thankful for that as were Lincoln and Lynn Jr. as she mouthed "thank you" to her sister. In the parent's room Lola and Lana were still confused and decided to ask their parents what was going on. "so mom… what are Lori and Bobby doing up there?" Lola asked. "y, yeah and why was Lori moaning like she had just tasted the best cake ever or something?" Lana added.

Lynn and Rita looked to each other, slightly red in the face from embarrassment, before Lynn spoke up. "Um well girls, this might be the last time Lori and Bobby will be able to spend together and they just want to be alone". "But that still doesn't explain what they're doing!" Lola exclaimed. Rita chose to answer this time. "We'll tell you when you're older". Causing both kids to groan in response at the classic "older" line their parents always used.

* * *

Back upstairs Bobby had finished showing Lori how talented he was with his mouth before she rolled on top of him, trailing kisses back down his body before stopping above his pants, she could feel him hardening beneath his jeans as she started feeling him out.

Lori undid his pants and pulled them off, sliding her hand down his briefs, stroking his length as he let out a moan in ecstasy. She pulled his briefs away and threw them to the floor, they were both now completely bare for the other to see. Lori moved back up to plant another kiss on Bobby's lips while she slowly stroked his dick. picking up the pace before moving her head back down, kissing his "other" head before opening her mouth wide.

Bobby had to bite his hand to hide his moans as Lori began bobbing her head up and down his length. Trying to find the right rhythm. Never having done this before, she hoped she was doing good enough for Bobby, and judging by his face, she was more than alright.

Bobby could feel the pre-cum leaking out of his dick as Lori pulled her head away. "You ready for the main event babe?" Lori asked in a tone a so seductive his dick twitched even more. Unable to form words he simply nodded his head. Feeling lightheaded from the amount of stimulating pleasure she was giving him.

Lori aligned her waist with his as she grabbed his member, aiming it at her center. "W, wait Lori s, shouldn't I be wearing protection or something? I don't want to leave you with a kid especially now." Bobby said trying to stay smart about this even as he was losing himself to the throes of passion. "I don't care Bobby. And besides I'm on the pill, I know that's not a guarantee, but even if it does happen, I would be overjoyed that it was yours". Lori looked into his eyes as he smiled up at her, she smiled back as she began to lower herself onto his throbbing dick.

"Ooohh my god!" Lori screamed out as she took in his entire length, breaking her hymen as he was buried deep inside her. Luna began playing Louder downstairs when her sister screamed out again, chuckling just a little at her sister. Lori braced herself, holding onto the bed sheets before starting to move. She started slowly bouncing up and down on the bed. Thrusting her hips against Bobby's pelvis, as Bobby held onto her waist. Helping her with her movements, grabbing onto her ass in the process.

"God babe you're driving me crazy!" Bobby said as he enjoyed the indescribable pleasure of finally losing his virginity with the love of his life. After a few minutes Bobby pulled Lori off of him as he rolled her over and aimed his dick back at her core.

Pushing back inside her in one thrust Lori screamed out as he began pounding into her. Her legs spread wide open to give him better access to go even deeper inside her before wrapping them around his back. Bobby began grasping her breasts as he continued to thrust into her, picking up his pace as he felt his climax coming.

He pulled Lori into a passionate kiss as his dick swelled within her, before finally exploding inside her. Both of them moaning into each other's mouths as they came together, lost in the most unbelievable moment of ecstasy and pleasure they've ever had. Stuck in a moment of pure euphoria as they rode out their orgasms.

Bobby rolled over onto his back, laying next to Lori as they were panting, starting to come down from the best moment of their respective lives. Lori turned on her side as she draped one arm around her love, planting another kiss on his cheek as they laid next to each other. Not wanting this moment to end, but knowing that was just a pipe dream.

"B, babe… that, that was the single… best moment of my life". Bobby said through heavy breaths, still trying to calm his beating heart. "Same goes for me boo-boo-bear… you were incredible, I just hate that we didn't do that sooner". "Y, yeah… me too".

"I… uh I guess we should probably get dressed and head back down… I have a sinking feeling that we weren't as quiet as we hoped". Bobby said as he winced and felt a bit of shame at the thought of everyone hearing them, his sister included. "Can't we just stay here a little longer? I don't want this moment to end. In here there's nothing but us, no emergency or end of the world, just us". Lori pleaded.

"Babe I would love nothing more than to just lay here in bed with you for the rest of my… of my life, but our families need us, and I think we need them a little too". Lori nodded. she hated it but he was right, her siblings needed her.

They gathered their clothes up, getting dressed before heading out of the room, holding each other's hands as they walked back downstairs. Once they reached the living room they looked to everyone and saw a mix of looks. Lynn Jr's was a look of anger and disgust while Luna gave a small smile before turning her head to the side.

Lincoln and Ronnie looked at them for a few seconds, not really sure how they were supposed to feel about all that. Clyde felt uncomfortable at the thought of his much older crush with Lori doing that with Bobby, his nose starting to bleed a bit.

Howard and Harold coughed a bit before looking away, heading towards the couch to take a seat. Lisa, ever the stoic one. Never showing much emotion normally simply nodded at Lori and Bobby, in understanding. And they appreciated it. Lucy wasn't even paying attention to them as she had started writing in her journal.

Lori and Bobby looked at each other, slightly red from embarrassment before breaking the hold on each other's hand, moving to try and find comfort with their siblings. Bobby sat next to Ronnie and her group of friends as he put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him as she rested her head on his shoulder, trying not to think about what he might've just done with that hand.

Lori at next to Lynn Jr. and Luna with Leni joining them. "I'm literally really sorry about that guys but I… needed that. And I think Bobby did too". Lori said as she looked over to him, smiling a bit as she thought back to the moment they just shared, she would cherish that moment forever.

"Whatever… I get it". Lynn said as she turned her head. She knew her sister was right, Bobby wasn't long for this world and they'd never have another chance. Lori just wanted to give him another good memory before he died. "Y, yeah sis we get it, no one's blaming you guys or trying to shame you we just… you know, heard you guys and well… yeah".

"Oohhhh I get it now you guys were having sex!" Leni said out loud. With everyone in the room widening their eyes, most of them were facepalming while a few of them were trying to hold in laughter. Bobby and Lori were staring to get as red as a tomato. "Leni! Keep your voice down. Even though the younger ones know what that is, they don't need to hear about it. The twins are still too young to know about all that stuff, and you know how thin the walls are here".

"oops, sorry Lori". They suddenly heard a knock at the door, and thinking it was finally their mother, Bobby got up to answer it.

Bobby slowly turned the door knob and pulled the door open, being met by the tear stained face of his mother. Bobby's mouth tried to form words, but nothing was coming out, what could he even say? "um mom I…" he was stopped as Maria wrapped her arms around her sons neck, pulling him into her loving arms.

That was all it took for Bobby to start breaking down all over again, now he wished he stayed up there with Lori. Ronnie soon joined them as Maria wrapped one arm around her daughter's head, not really knowing how to calm them down. "Bobby, Ronnie, I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you guys, why didn't you both stay in the house damnit? I told you there was a virus going around!"

"I, I'm sorry mom I just-" "no… no don't be sorry honey, I shouldn't be blaming you for this, it's not your fault." Maria interrupted him, hating that she just scolded him, when he was going to… she couldn't even finish that thought.

Harold's phone began to ring and he stepped out of the room to answer it, not wanting to ruin this private moment. Stepping into the kitchen, Harold answered and his friend from the government was on the other end. "Harold! Where the hell are you guys? there's still a bunch of space here but I don't know how much longer I can say that." "We've uh run into a few problems, how much time do you think we have left before it's too late?"

"You need to leave as soon as possible, if you aren't here in the next hour there won't be much I can do at that point". Harold pinched the bridge of his nose, he didn't want to leave his friends here. The Loud's were like a second family to them, they were their closest friends and they couldn't leave them. But if it came down to his family and theirs, he'd regrettably have to.

"We'll be there as soon as we can, just try and stall a little longer please." Harold hung up the phone, not waiting for a response. He quickly walked into Lynn and Rita's room. "Guys sorry to barge in, but Maria is here and my friend is worried that we won't get in, we need to be there within the hour."

"O, okay. I'll tell the others, I just hope they'll understand the situation we're in." Lynn sullenly said.

Back in the living room the Santiago's were starting to calm down when Bobby told her that they are gonna have to leave him behind, the shelter won't let him in. Maria argued with him, she wasn't gonna leave him out there to fend for himself and eventually turn into one of those… things. The Loud parents, Harold and the twins walked into the room, greeting Maria as she thanked them for taking care of her son until she got there.

"It was no trouble at all, you guys are pretty much a part of our family as well, just like you Harold and Howard. You guys and Clyde are very close friends of ours and we are happy to have you all in our lives". Rita said as tears started forming in her eyes.

"Maria I know you just got here and you've barely had any time to process this and be with your kids but..." "We need to head to the shelter soon don't we?" Maria interrupted Lynn before he could finish. "Y, yeah. Harold has a friend who can save us a spot but we need to be there within the hour. I hate to do this but we should leave."

Letting out a long breath of air Maria knew what that meant. "And Bobby can't come with us can he?" "They probably won't even let him past the front gate, my friend says their checking people for bites and well... they don't let them leave either".

"Then I'm staying here with him until he's… gone. I won't leave him here." Maria said. "Mom no! If you're staying then so am I" Ronnie-Anne said not wanting to leave her brother, her mother even more so. she'd be all alone then. "No Ronnie, I'll be fine but I want you to head to the shelter, I need to know you're safe and if you stay out here with us, I won't be able to guarantee you will. I can't lose you too. I just can't!"

"B, but I don't want to leave you! You can't make me. You'll have to take me kicking and screaming to that shelter." "Honey… once Bobby is well you know, I will make it to that shelter and if they won't let me in then I'll stay somewhere close, I'm sure they'll have an area cleared out in front of wherever they are."

"N, no I'm staying with you two and that's final! I'm not changing my mind." "Damnit Ronnie please just do this one thing for me. You won't be alone there, you'll have all of them there with you, and I need to know you're safe. If something happened to you then I, I don't know what I'd do."

As Ronnie and her mother tearfully argued, the Loud parents motioned for their children to pick up their bags, so they could get ready to leave. Lincoln however walked up behind Ronnie. Placing his hand on her shoulder, making her turn towards him.

"R, Ronnie, you've seen what losing a kid does to a parent, and if you stay out here with them, then she might end up losing two… I don't want to even imagine what that feels like. It feels like crap just losing a sibling, but losing someone you gave life to in this world… someone you raised. That must be unbearable"

"B, but Lincoln I, how do you think it will feel like for me to lose a parent!? I'm already losing Bobby I can't lose her too." "Your mother's strong Ronnie. Do you honestly think she won't be able to make it out here? This won't be the last time you see her, all she wants, all she's asking of you is to be safe and she wouldn't be able to handle it if you were… gone too. She can take care of herself but it might be harder to watch out for you too."

"Stop, please just stop it, I don't want you to rationalize this, I can't..." Ronnie Looked back to her mother. Ronnie was always a trouble child and made things hard for her mother. She couldn't do that now, she needed to be strong for her and needed to do as she asked.

"Alright damnit. Fine! I'll go with them but you better stay safe! I swear if you die out there, I'll… I'll, You'll be in big trouble, I'll never forgive you."

The Santiago's shared another group hug in the middle of the living room, as the Loud children began loading up the van and the trunk of the McBride's car. Ronnie said her final goodbyes to her mom and brother as she started walking out to Vanzilla, she hated goodbyes and didn't want to drag this one out.

Lori walked over to Bobby pulling him into one last kiss. Not wanting to break it, not wanting this moment to end. She didn't want to leave him, but she knew her family needed her. Wiping her eyes she turned away as she said her last goodbye.

Before leaving, Lynn and Rita walked over to Maria and Bobby. "We'll make sure she stays out of trouble until she's back in your arms. We won't let anything happen to her." Lynn told her, reassuring her that everything would be fine. "Oh you better damnit or else you'll have to deal with me". Maria replied with a light chuckle.

They hugged one another as Lynn pulled Bobby into a tight embrace. "T, thank you for everything you've done, protecting Lori, loving her as you have. I'm proud that someone like you was with my daughter." Bobby started to tear up at Lynn's kind words. Waving goodbye to the Santiago's Lynn and Rita walked out to their van, preparing to leave. The McBride's pulled off of the sidewalk and the Loud's followed right behind them.

The kids looked back at the house as they left. They spent their lives in that house and now they didn't know if they'd ever be able to return. Following a route their friend told them about they drove on off-roads and even through alleyways that led to more open roads. They arrived faster than the other cars that were stuck in traffic, and everyone got out.

* * *

Spotting their friend by the front of the line, the McBride's waved him over. "Hey Harold what the hell? I told you I would help you guys but I don't know if I can let them all through." "You need to Chaz, these are good people and they've been like a second family to us, hell their a part of our family. So you're going to let us all in!" Chaz looked back to the entrance and back at the large family. "Uugggh fine! But hurry up, there's a lot of people wanting in and if they see me bringing all of you in there will be a riot, I better not get in trouble for this".

"Here put these on, just act like you're government officials and this is your family. Follow my lead". Chaz led them to the front gate, telling the guards that these people were with the science division and were bringing their family in. "I already cleared them, no one is bit and none of them have any health issues, so their fine to go on in."

The guard looked to the rather large family and wondered how they managed to keep all of them fed and clothed, let alone had enough space at home for them all. "Alright you guys are good. Head on in for processing and where you'll be staying at". "Thank you sir" Lynn said they walked through the gates.

The shelter was a walled off section around the CDC research center connected to an apartment complex behind it, there were four tall building with what looked like a lot of rooms to each building. Lynn hoped the rooms would have enough space to keep their family together, or at least divided between two rooms.

They saw the tents just passed the gate with a "processing" sign above the tent. They headed inside and saw multiple tables set up with people in lab coats sitting behind them, asking questions like age, occupation, medical issues, etc. The Loud family stood in line at the first desk on their right.

Lynn was up first as he lied and told them he was a former scientist before retiring to pursue cooking, and that he didn't have any medial issues, and that none of his kids had any either. Rita was up next as she told the woman about her work in the dentists office and that she had some medical training, she wanted to show that they could be useful here.

One by one the Loud children walked through the same process, when the woman got to Ronnie-Anne she raised an eyebrow as she looked to the Loud parents. "Oh we adopted her not too long ago, her mother was a really good family friend. Almost like family, so we took Ronnie in without a second thought". Lynn wasn't really wrong either.

Once the whole process was done they were given keys with the room numbers that they'd be in. Due to the size of their family they were split into two rooms. Lynn sighed in relief. Heading up to the first building on their right, they walked up to the fifth floor, there were five more floors above them.

Walking down the hallway to the fourth door on the right, Lynn opened the door to their room. Seeing the room furnished with four beds that were unoccupied and a bathroom just to the right of the entrance. The walls were lined with an ugly shade of yellow paint and had carpeted floors. There was one window in the middle of the room, looking out over the town.

Rita had the second key and opened the room just to the left of the last one. With the same exact decor and look as the first one. Heading back inside the first room they decided on how they would split up between the two rooms.

Lynn would stay in the first room they entered with Lynn Jr., Lincoln, Lana, Lucy and Ronnie-Anne. While Rita would stay in the other room with Lily, Lori, Leni, Luna, Lola and Lisa. Since there was only four beds some of the kids would have to share.

Lori and Leni shared one, Rita kept Lily with her, Luna had her own and Lola shared another with Lisa. In the other room Lynn had one for himself while Lucy and Lana shared one, Lynn Jr. and Ronnie-Anne shared another while Lincoln had his own.

The families in the shelter were told that dinner would be served in the lobbies of each building, there was an eight o clock curfew and everyone needed to stay in their own rooms. No overnight visits between buildings or rooms. Jobs would be assigned the following morning, and anyone over the age of ten was going to have some type of job.

They announced that meals would be served at set times and everyone only gets a certain amount based on needs and amount of family members. Dinner was going to be served at five o clock and there would be nothing afterwards, if anyone wanted any extra supplies or any amenities they would have to pay for them with the "money" they will earn from their jobs.

People questioned if they would run out of food or water among other things but were told that the government would send supplies over time. They currently had enough supplies to last them for half a year, more if they rationed. They believe the answer to the virus will be found by then.

"Alright kids get settled in it looks like dinner is going to be in one hour, so rest up while your mother and I try and get our bearings around here." The kids began unpacking their bags, some of them had loaded up on supplies before they left and stored them in the closet.

There was one dresser in each room with six drawers, each member in the family had their own, excluding Lily since she didn't really have anything, the few baby clothes they packed were put with Rita's things. Lincoln opened his bag and was surprised that they had packed him a stack of his Ace Savvy comics as well as a few games for his handheld. His eyes widened even more when he found his stuffed rabbit bun-bun at the bottom of the bag.

"Uh hey Lana do you know which one of you packed my bag?" "Yeah dude I think it was Luna." Lincoln stared back at his things before getting up and heading into the next room. The door was opened but he knocked on it anyway so they knew he was here. "H, hey Luna I just wanted to say thanks for making that bag for me, I really appreciate it." "Aw it was no problem dude, I knew what you'd need here" she said in her faux British voice, giving Lincoln a big smile.

Lincoln walked up and hugged his rock-star sister, and she gladly returned it, ruffling his hair a bit, before he went back to his room.

Once everyone got settled and had their things packed away, they sat in silence for a bit, reflecting on the crazy events of the day. Just this morning they were happy, with not a care in the world, off enjoying the weekend away from school. Then things kept going wrong one after the other. Lana went into the other room to be with Lola she felt a little lost without her, they usually fight a lot but deep down they shared a close bond.

Lucy was sitting in silence on her bed, writing a poem in her journal about the horrid day, today was darker than her usual tastes. Lynn was bouncing a baseball against the wall, catching it before throwing it right back. Lincoln's mind kept replaying the scene at the car, staring into Luan's eyes before bringing the bat down on her head. He was starting to tear up again, as Ronnie sat down next to him on his bed softly rubbing his back as he wept into his hands.

"It's alright Lame-o, just let it all out, all of that is said and done. Don't dwell on it. She wouldn't want you too. Lincoln moved his head away from his hands and tightly hugged Ronnie, burying his face in the crook of her neck. "I, I miss her Ronnie, I already miss her so much! I wish she was here." "I know Linc, I know. I know exactly how you feel, but… it's gonna get better with… time." Ronnie was trying to soothe him to the best of her abilities.

"Oh, oh god that's right Ronnie I, I'm sorry I didn't even think, how, how are you holding up?" Lincoln asked, wiping away his tears as he suddenly realized Bobby was gone as well. "I'm about as well as can be expected, I'm trying to be strong. I know that's what he would want. I just hope, I hope that he'll go in peace."

Lynn looked back at them and wanted to ask her brother what it was like when, when Luan died but she decided it was best to hold off on that for now.

Lori went out into the hall as she saw her parents walking back. She stopped them a few rooms away and said she had something important she needed to speak with them about. Something about Lincoln.

"W, when Luan turned, we were all in the car with her. Everything happened so fast, Ronnie and Lincoln fell out of the back and while Bobby was trying to save me from Luan he got bit". This they already knew but they were surprised by what their daughter told them next.

"After everyone was out and we were about to leave for the hospital, Lincoln grabbed the bat that Ronnie had with her… he walked around the back of the car to where Luan was and opened her door. He said that it should've been him who died, and I slapped him for it." Lori could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

"After that he, he… he brought the bat down on Luan's head. The first time didn't work so he did it again, I had to look away. He looked so angry though and after the second hit she was "dead" again. Lincoln broke down afterwards and I'm just kinda worried about how he's dealing right now."

Rita had her hand over her mouth as she had started crying again, Lynn was deep in though about what his son did. Lynn didn't even think he'd be able to do it himself let alone Lincoln, and now he was worried as well.

After Dinner was done, Rita and Lynn pulled him aside to check how he was handling everything. They told him they knew what he did and while they didn't like that he did it, they were proud of **why** he did it. They pulled him into a hug as they told him it was alright, that everything was going to fine from here on out. But they had no idea how wrong they were.

* * *

 **So now the first day of the outbreak has ended and the Louds have begun their new lives. Next chapter we'll check back in on Rich and Lincoln as they begin to plan out there journey. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and see you next time on Finding Who Was Lost.**


	6. Break from it all

**Hello all. I bring you the next chapter in "Finding Who Was Lost". This time we check back in with Richard and Lincoln as they both get a break from the apocalypse happening outside. I might start doing some smaller stories and one-shots while I finish this one up. So read on and I hope you guys enjoy**

 **disclaimer: I own nothing from The Loud House.**

 **Song Lyrics- Tragic Truth by Five Finger Death Punch**

* * *

 **Break From It All **

**present day**

Lincoln woke up two hours after falling asleep in his new room. He looked at the clock and saw that it was half past four in the afternoon. Rubbing his eyes, he took in his surroundings, his room looked surprisingly nice compared to the one he had at his house. There was a painting of a sunset on the wall across from his bed, and there was a wooden dresser underneath it, with five drawers, two on each side and one long drawer on the bottom.

Walking over to a door next to it, Lincoln opened it to find a closet with an assortment of clothes. They were all close to his size. He assumed this was the kid's room, his gaze cast down as he thought about how they felt, knowing they couldn't get here.

There was a desk with a journal resting on the middle of it, Lincoln opened it but there was nothing written in it. Lincoln looked back to the bed, it wasn't anything special. The mattress was firm enough and the pillow was comfortable, there were blue sheets with a neutral white beneath them. Lincoln looked down to the holster around his waist and undid it, laying the gun and holster on the desk.

Remembering where the bathroom was Lincoln walked to the other side of the hall, turning back to shut off the lights in his room before heading out. Opening the door to the bathroom, Lincoln turned the lights on and saw how plain the bathroom looked. The floor was filled with off white tiles and the wall was painted with a light shade of beige. There was a wooden vanity on the left wall it had two drawers on the side and one door on the left side of those.

The vanity had a white sink built into it, with a nickle colored faucet. There was a toilet towards the back of the room on the right side with a wastebasket to the left of it. A ceramic towel rack was nailed to the right wall and there was a step-in shower finishing off the room on the left. _"Geez with how rich these guys were they certainly didn't really care much about interior design"._

Lincoln shut the door before he walked over to the toilet, lifting the lid and undoing his pants. Sitting down on the toilet he winced in pain as he tried to go, finding that the damage Jim had done to him yesterday still hadn't healed yet. "Goddamnit! Fucking Jim." Lincoln said to himself. The inside of his ass was still sore from the day before. Jim made sure to punish Lincoln hard for trying to kill himself. _"Listen here you little asshole,_ _ **I**_ _say when you die!_ _ **I**_ _say when you've had enough. You are mine and you don't get to leave in any way until_ _ **I'm**_ _done with you."_ Jim said, with each painful thrust he gave Lincoln. Not to mention the beating he gave Lincoln afterwards.

It wasn't the worst time he had with Jim but it was pretty close to it. He had come so close to being free, but Jim wouldn't let him. Now he was actually kind of thankful for that, if he had died he wouldn't have this chance to find his family. He was given a second chance at a good life and he wasn't going to waste it.

Lincoln looked to the shower as he flushed the toilet and decided he was long overdue for the warm, relaxing rush of water. Lincoln looked to the rack next to him and saw three towels hung on it. Grabbing the blue towel, Lincoln set it on the top of the vanity as he started taking off his clothes, turning the water on so it would warm up before hand. Lincoln stepped in and felt a wave of relief as the warm water rushed over him. He missed this feeling, he actually started to cry as he felt a sudden wave of emotion rush over him.

Lincoln wrapped his arms around himself as crouched down in the shower, his mind flashing to the weeks in that hotel. Not just the days and nights with Jim, but with some of his people too. Men, women, they all used him and he felt sick, his skin crawled as he tried to scrub it all away. His skin turned red as he tried to erase the unclean feelings radiating from his body.

But he knew there wasn't much he could do about it. The physical scars would heal within a short amount of time, but the feelings, the emotional scars, would take a lot longer, and still never completely go away. He'd just have to find a way to move past them, to manage them. Lincoln sucked it up as he turned the water off, grabbing the towel to dry himself off.

Lincoln returned to his room as he grabbed a new set of clothes out of the dresser and closet. He put on a new pair of pants and a simple orange t-shirt, he was glad most of this kid's clothes were his favorite color.

Lincoln opened up the backpack he had as he took out the various supplies he gathered. He had already stored the food and drinks he took for himself in the kitchen and had only the personal things he took for himself.

He pulled out a few comics, which he was surprised they found there, among a few random toys he found. Lincoln took out something that he cared about the most, a mp3 player with a pair of earbuds. Lincoln looked at the music stored on it while him and Rich were walking here and saw that the owner was a fan of rock music. It made him think of his sister and he would cherish this until he found her.

Lincoln walked out of his room and looked into Richard's room. When Lincoln saw that he wasn't there he contemplated on whether to snoop or go find Rich. _**"Do it… I bet he's hiding things in there that he doesn't want you to see."**_ _"Go away… well I guess I could take a quick look"._ Lincoln opened the door wider as he stepped inside. The room was the same as Lincoln's excluding some posters that Rich must've found outside, and new bed sheets.

There was a footlocker that looked like the ones you'd see in those Fallout games, Rich didn't have any lock on it though. _"Hm, he must've thought it was unnecessary as he was living alone"._ Lincoln opened it up to find a small safe inside, it looked like it was keycode protected so he didn't even try to open it. He saw what looked like a photo album underneath the safe, and he looked at a few of the pictures before putting it back. _"_ _H_ _e looked so happy with them. I hope his family is out there too"._

There were more things in the locker but Lincoln didn't want to snoop more than he should. He noticed a necklace wrapped around one of the bedposts and examined it. There were a couple charms around a red capsule, Lincoln was about to try and open it but stopped when he saw "Grandpa" written on one of the charms and put it back around the bedpost. Understanding what it was as a sad expression formed on his face.

Lincoln noticed a locked box on top of the desk, it kind of looked like a clipboard. Lincoln looked around for a key and found it in the second drawer of the desk. Lincoln held the key up to his face before looking back at the locked case. _**"Oh come on, we both want to know more about him and his past. Just. Open. It"**_

 _"B, but I shouldn't be prying into his personal space like this! Just taking a quick look was fine but I shouldn't be snooping this much"._ _ **"Fine then, just open it at least, we don't need to take or search through whatever is inside, but I still at least want to know".**_ _"Alright just a quick look"._ Lincoln cringed as he felt bad about doing this, but something inside him needed to know. He turned the key in the lock, popping it open and finding a journal strapped inside, with an assortment of writing tools in the pockets on the left side.

Lincoln stared at the journal beneath him, it had writing on the front: Richard's Journal, started March 3rd 2018 ended-. _**"Ooooohhhhh jackpot! now we're talking! These are his personal thoughts. And by the looks of the writing, he's still writing in it. Open it".**_ _"No! I agreed to just seeing what was inside but this is too far, he could come in at any minute and then who knows how mad he'd be. I'm not digging into his own personal thoughts like this"._ _ **"Ugh fine".**_

Lincoln locked the journal back up and stopped his searching when he heard music coming from the dining area.

* * *

Walking down the hallway, Lincoln heard the song end as a new one had started, he heard Rich singing along as Lincoln started chuckling to himself. _"O_ _h this should be funny"_

 _I'm drowning in the bottom of a bottle_

 _running from_ _a_ _man I swore I'd never be._

 _no one ever has to face tomorrow_

 _But I'm the one who has to face… me._

 _It's the deeemons I've created for myself_

 _The Tragic Truth._

 _It's hard for me to understand myself_

 _so it has to be Hard_ _as hell_ _for you_

 _for you, yoouuuu!_

 _Are we born to be broken?_

 _Sinners and theeiiives_

 _(someone tell the heavens, I'm ready to escape! You!)_

 _This is not what I wanted not what I neeeed._

 _(_ _Take it all, tear it all, Rip it all awaayyyyy!_ _)_

Lincoln stopped at the end of the hallway as he watched Richard dancing in the kitchen while stirring a pot on the stove. He was lost in the music and Lincoln didn't want to interrupt him. He looked too happy, but Lincoln could also sense an aura around him, like this had some personal meaning to him. Surprisingly enough Rich had a decent voice.

 _I can't say the devil made me do it_

 _I chose to be the one I am, the way I am today_

 _I wish there was but_

 _there's no way around it_

 _In the end I made the choice and will not die ashamed!_

 _It's the vooooiiices screaming in my head_

 _the traaaagic truth._

 _It's hard for me to understand myself_

 _So it has to be hard as hell for you. For you, Yooouuuu!_

 _Are we born to be broken?_

 _Sinners and theeiiives_

 _(someone tell the heavens, I'm ready to escape! You!)_

 _This is not what I wanted not what I neeeed._

 _(Take it all, tear it all, Rip it all awaayyyyy!)_

 _Take it all tear it all take it all tear it all away_

Lincoln continued to listen to the lyrics as Richard sang along with them. Lincoln could hear the passion in his voice and he could see the relation Rich had to this song. It was a little bit more heavy than Lincoln was accustomed to but he began tapping his foot and even began playing the air guitar as the solo began.

 _Are we born to be broken?_

 _Sinners and theeiiives_

 _(someone tell the heavens, I'm ready to escape! You!)_

 _This is not what I wanted not what I neeeed._

 _(Take it all, tear it all, Rip it all awaayyyyy!)_

 _Are we born to be broken?_

 _Sinners and theeiiives_

 _(someone tell the heavens, I'm ready to escape! You!)_

 _This is not what I wanted not what I neeeed._

 _(Take it all, tear it all, Rip it all awaayyyyy!)_

 _Take it all, tear it all, rip it all tear it all away!_

 _Someone tell the heavens to take it all! Tear it all awaaaaay!_

The music faded away as Lincoln walked behind Richard and made his presence known. "Uummm hey Rich whatcha doin?" Lincoln asked him with a coy smile, trying his best not to laugh. Richard jumped in the air as he dropped the ladle into the pot and turned around to face Lincoln. "Jesus Christ Lincoln don't scare me like that!" Rich said as he held a hand up to his chest. _"I guess I'm gonna need to get used to having someone else here..."._

Lincoln started laughing as Richard calmed his breathing. He turned back, shaking his head and turning the phone off before grabbing the ladle from the pot. He began stirring the pasta he was making, looking at the timer and seeing it had five more minutes left.

Sighing, Richard took a jar of sauce out of the cabinet above his head, twisting the cap open and leaving it on the counter. "You making spaghetti Rich?" Lincoln asked as he looked into the pot, seeing the noodles stirring in the boiling water.

"Yeah… I was going to make something better for your first night here but didn't really feel like I could make some of the stuff in this recipe book right. But I sure as hell can make this".

Lincoln smiled at Rich as he turned and walked over to the TV, looking at the various consoles and games Rich had stacked there. Lincoln just stared in amazement at the amount that was there. "Rich is all this yours? Cause if so you're even crazier than I thought". "Well the consoles aren't mine, I'm not that crazy… well at least I think I'm not. The switch is mine, and some of the physical games there are mine. Most of my games are stored on those hard drives next to the Xbox and PlayStation 4. The total amount is above 300 between the three systems".

Lincoln looked at him with an eyebrow raised and a look that screamed _"you're crazy"._ "Hey don't judge. like I said, now I have enough entertainment and supplies to last me my whole life here".

Lincoln sat down on the couch in front of the TV and noticed some comics stacked on the coffee table in front of him. _"Well judging by the amount here I'd say Batman and Green Arrow are at the top of his list"._ Lincoln noticed a few hardcover books on the second shelf and saw that there were a few survival training books as well as other paperbacks about martial arts and meditation.

Lincoln's browsing was interrupted when the timer in the kitchen went off. "Hey Lincoln it's done! Come on over and grab a plate, or a bowl, whatever you use".

Lincoln walked over to the cabinets and started opening them trying to find the dinnerware. "Oh top shelf all the way to the right, the one right next to the fridge". Lincoln opened up the cabinet and pulled out a plate for himself, and a bowl after Richard asked him for one. Richard had pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels from the cupboard on the left and poured some into a cup, mixing it with a bit of soda.

Lincoln stared at him, and Richard shrugged "Hey after yesterday I need a drink, don't judge". Rich said after smiling at him. They set their dinner down at the table and began quietly eating. There was a couple minutes of silence before Richard decided to try and start a conversation, not really enjoying silence.

"So Lincoln…" Rich began as Lincoln looked up to him with a questioning face, as he finished the spaghetti he was bringing to his mouth. "You must be some type of bad-ass to make it this far right? Tell me a bit about your journey before meeting me".

"Well the first day was one of the worst parts of all this..." Lincoln told Rich about his sister Luan and the events that transpired just in that one day. "We were at that shelter for about one month before there was an accident and there were infected coming from within as well as outside after the gates somehow got opened. We made a break for it… narrowly getting out before the entire place was overrun".

"Did um...did all of you make it out of there?" Richard asked. "Well… I don't know. The only ones that weren't in our group were my dad and the McBride family I was telling you about. I, I, I don't know if they're still out there or not, and My dad he… he had my baby sister with him".

"Aaannnd now I feel like an idiot for starting a conversation like this." Rich said. "Uuummm alright tell me about your life before all this… I mean your life must've been pretty crazy with a family as big as yours".

Lincoln laughed a bit to himself as he remembered all the times he spent with his family, the good and the bad. "Well one thing I already like about this place is that there's no crazy line for the bathroom heh. But yeah home life was pretty crazy. Most of my time was spent with my sisters, helping them with their various activities".

"Did you get time for yourself?" Rich asked him. "Well yeah… maybe not as much as I would've liked, but I didn't mind. My sisters were fun to be around… most of the time." Lincoln smiled.

"Alright let me see if I can remember all of them. Let's see going from oldest to youngest: Lori? Uuhh Leni, Luna… Luan, Lynn, wait Lynn jr. Then you and then it was uuhhh". "Lu-" Lincoln began, trying to help Rich but he held his hand up. "Lucy! Uuh let's see, um the twins Lana and um, Lola?" Lincoln nodded. "And then there's your four year old Einstein, uummm Lisa! and then Lily right?" Lincoln smiled and nodded his head, surprised Rich got all of them, for the most part.

"Yes! High five" Rich held up his hand as Lincoln returned it. They told each other more about themselves, favorite movies, shows, games etc. and found that they had a bunch in common, and some things that were… completely opposite choices.

"Ok while I can see your argument that Tim Drake is the best Robin, I believe that title goes to Dick Grayson. I mean he was so good at being Robin that when he went off on his own as Nightwing he was even better. I feel like he's not only the most qualified to take over Batman's mantle but with who he is as a person he could even be better. He's in my top ten list of heroes". "Oh come one Rich, Tim's detective skills are only rivaled by Batman himself and he has proven that he's just as skilled a fighter as any other. And he even started being his own hero when he became Red Robin".

"Alright look we could sit here and argue all night about this among other things but I guarantee we can both agree on one thing." Rich said. "And that would be?" "That Jason Todd is a much better Red Hood than he was Robin, he was the worst". Lincoln and Rich started laughing as they remember how Jason acted compared to everyone else and they agreed that he was bad from start to finish while Damian wasn't much better at the start, but he evolved into a better sidekick.

Richard looked to the clock and saw that it was seven o clock, and he had an idea to make this day even better for Lincoln. "Alright let's go". Rich said as he put the dishes up and had Lincoln follow him over to the couch. "Alright I have over three hundred games here between these physical copies and my hard drives. Pick something and we'll see who's better".

"You're on, I'm gonna win, no contest". "Aaahhh Daniel-San you are messing with the master, and this is my dojo. My skills might be too much for you young Padawan". "Alright one you just mixed to different movies together and two, my skills are the best around, there was barely anyone who could beat me".

"Well then Mr. big talk, pick a game and we'll see who the best is". Lincoln scrolled through the list of games on the xbox and found one that he was sure to beat Rich in. "Oooohhhh Lincoln you don't know what you just started… fighting games are my specialty". Lincoln had decided on Injustice 2, and he also had a high amount of skill in this genre.

* * *

Richard picked his main: Green Arrow, while Lincoln went with Superman. "Alright I swear to god if you spam me with him you're gonna be in trouble Linc". Rich said as his laughter turned into a stern game face.

The match started and Lincoln immediately tried to blast Rich with heat vision "Oh you son of a" Rich blocked it as Lincoln kept jumping into the air and using his heat rays to zone the arena, keeping Rich back.

Rich switched his character ability to freeze arrows and hit Lincoln as soon as he touched back down, using this opportunity to get in close and unleash his combos. "Oh come on!" Rich pressured Lincoln back into a corner as his super meter maxed out, Rich finished off the first half of Lincoln's health before the next round began.

Lincoln had backed away far enough and used a piece of the environment to throw at Rich, making his character stumble back. Lincoln used this chance to spam him with a couple blasts before closing in with a few quick combos, not dealing too much damage but it was enough to keep Rich from recovering.

"Alright that's it, enough fooling around." Rich bounced off another piece of the interactive environment and switched to another freeze arrow. Lincoln dodged it but Rich was just using that as a diversion and switched to his electric arrows, missing the first one but jumping and hitting Lincoln while he was in the air.

Once he was stunned and on the ground, Richard dashed in close, switched one more time to the freeze arrows and hit Lincoln. As Lincoln was frozen Rich activated his super and sat back, setting his controller down as he knew it would finish off the last of Lincoln's health.

"Damnit. Alright again!" Lincoln shouted. "Language. Tell ya what Lincoln I'll use a character I don't use that often". "No, use your main again. I'll beat you." Lincoln replied. Rich shrugged as he once again picked Green Arrow, and Lincoln looked through the roster. Trying to find a character that he could use to beat Rich. _"Alright there's only a couple characters I actually remember how to use. Taking the easy way out with superman didn't work so I guess I'll try… Batman. I might still remember his combos"._

Lincoln picked Batman and Richard saw that this was gonna be a more interesting match. Setting the stage to Atlantis, Rich immediately selected his fire arrows for the most damage, before charging in to get the first hit. Richard used one of his special moves and slid across the stage, hitting Lincoln before dashing back to put some space between the two. Lincoln dashed in to close the gap and stopped just out of reach as he used Batman's special to pull Rich in close and hit him before pulling out a few combos.

After a minute of back and forth they were both close in health on their second bar. Rich had three bars of his meter filled and Lincoln had two, Rich could use a clash and get some health back but saved them to do something better. Bringing Lincoln's health down a bit more Rich burned the meter on his character ability to give him a "special" arrow.

Lincoln didn't pay attention to it as he jumped towards Rich and dashed towards him when he landed. Rich used the opportunity of Lincoln's dash to fire the arrow right at him. Lincoln looked wide-eyed as his character was just hit with an arrow… with a boxing glove on it.

"Wh, wha, what the hell was that!?" "That young Daniel-San is my favorite move, the Boxing glove arrow". Lincoln angrily exited back to the home screen and went back to scrolling through Rich's games, with a frustrated expression the entire search. "Let's see". Lincoln said as he dragged out the "e". Lincoln's gaze fell on a racing game, Forza Motor-sport 5. "Well alright this ones no contest… you're gonna win, Racing and sports games are the bane of my existence and that's one of the only ones I actually left on here". Richard informed Lincoln.

"Come on Rich, what are ya chicken?" Lincoln said as he flapped his arms in imitation. "No I'll play you I'm just saying you're most likely going to win".

They booted up the game and picked their cars, starting the race. Lincoln had pushed into third place behind the computers and Rich was a couple places behind him. Rich took first place with Lincoln inching ever closer before overtaking him around a right turn. Lincoln kept his first place lead into the finish while Rich had dropped down to fourth place by the end.

* * *

"Yeah see told ya, Racing games aren't my cup of tea young master". Rich said as he bowed to Lincoln. "Eh some people are good at some genres and completely suck at others, I'm better than you at racers and you're better at fighters". "And everything else but sports". Rich muttered to himself barely enough for Lincoln to hear.

"Uh what was that Rich? You got something to say". Lincoln jokingly said, fully aware of what he said. "While you're better at racers… and maybe sports games. I'm better in all the rest". They both narrowed their eyes at each other as if they were two fighters on a versus screen.

Shooters, guitar hero, other fighting games, Rich continued to beat Lincoln, game after game. From Halo to mortal Kombat and Call of Duty to smash bros. Rich didn't let up. "Alright that's it! You're only better because you sat inside your whole life and did nothing but play games isn't that right Rich, did you ever do anything outside?" Lincoln said, unaware of just how much of an ass he sounded like.

Richard sighed as he remembered how his life was spent before 2015. Until that point Rich barely went out, didn't really hang out with anyone outside of his family and the few friends he played over Xbox with.

Rich started to bite the nail on his thumb, looking off into space as Lincoln was taken aback, realizing what he just said to Rich. "Uuuhhh hey Rich I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I was just caught up in the moment. I don't mean to criticize how you lived your life or judge you for your choices. That was bad, sorry".

Rich looked back to him and smiled. "Ah no apologies needed, I don't care much about what others say, stopped doing that a long time ago. And besides I know you didn't mean it". Lincoln and Rich fist bumped as Rich went to the kitchen to grab a soda, asking Lincoln if he wanted anything.

"Naw I'm still good with this one". Lincoln said as he pointed to his own drink on the coffee table. Richard noticed there wasn't any coaster underneath it and shouted at him to put one under it.

Lincoln jumped and hastily searched for one around but not seeing anything, starting to get worried. "Ahahahaha I'm just screwin with ya Linc. One, the coasters are stacked up here and two, I don't really care much if you don't use one. It's the apocalypse. Who cares? You shoulda seen your face!"

Rich started imitating Lincoln's worried expression as Lincoln threw a book at him, narrowly missing.

"Haha alright, alright. Anything you want to do next?" Lincoln thought about it, for the past six months, all he could think about was his family and trying to keep them alive, himself included. But now, now he didn't know where they were and while he wanted to go out there right now and start looking, he knew it was already getting dark out and that they were already two weeks ahead of where they were.

He figured he could take tonight and another day as a breather before having to face a dead ridden world. *snap *snap "Hey earth to Lincoln? You there?" Lincoln shook his head awake. "Huh? Oh yeah um I don't know, got anything good to watch?" "Well now that you mention it".

Richard went over by the door and rifled through it, pulling out some of the items that weren't important to his safety. "Before I found this place the only non essential things I kept on me were a few personal things and those hard drives. But after coming here and realizing I not only had power but the entertainment to make use of that power. I started looking for things that were and weren't essential".

Rich pulled out a stack of movies, books, and seasons of different shows. "Now I already have some stuff stored on those two bookshelves behind you and I just got these while I was out, some even from those assholes at the hotel".

Lincoln walked over to the bookcases that were six shelves high and started looking through the assortment of television series and movies that were aligned along the shelves. "Ok don't tell me you found all of this stuff while you were out?" "Well most of it was from the family before me yeah, but I found a lot of those along the way between outposts and in my travels".

"All the movies are split between the bottom three shelves and the top three have all the tv series. The bookshelf to your left is half books and comic volumes and those bottom two shelves that are empty are for more of these". Rich said as he held up more movies and series.

"Now I was extremely happy when I came across these beauties, I found them on my way to the town we came from". Rich showed Lincoln the two box sets he had, one was the entire series of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and the other was the entire series of Dragon Ball, the original series not Dragon Ball Z.

"Wow! where did you find these?" Lincoln held up the Dragon Ball set as he looked on in amazement, he watched it when he was younger but never saw the entire thing and only so much of the sequel series. "There was a video store that was a minute into town, I intend to go back there when we head back out, because I assume the camp you were taken from was close to it. We can load up on some extra supplies there and then find your old camp".

"Now I say we either watch some of that tonight or Fullmetal, your choice". There it was again. "Choice" that concept was lost to him after not having any real control over his life for longer than those monsters had him. "Hey Linc you alright? Did I say something?" Lincoln looked up to him confused until he felt it falling down his face, a tear out of his left eye.

He wiped it away as looked back up at Rich. "I, I don't even know why I started crying". Lincoln said as he felt more tears slowly rising from within.

"I'll tell ya why. From what I've seen of you, from what you've told me about your life before and after everything turned to crap. It sounds like you never really had any choices that you felt were made from **your** decisions. Only ones that were influenced in some way by others, now that you've finally had some freedom not only from that hotel, but from everyone else. It's a bit overwhelming isn't it?"

 _ **"W**_ _ **ow this guy is starting to understand you better than we do. I can see why you're starting to like him".**_ _"Y, yeah I guess he has a point, whether it was my sisters, my parents, or… Jim. My choices were never really_ _ **my own**_ _. I was always making decisions that were influenced by others"._

"I'm guessing I got that right? I used to be the same way, it wasn't until a year back that I started making decisions that were my own. Ones that **I** wanted to make. From middle school onward I didn't really have any choices that were made of my own volition, everything I did was because of or for someone else".

"Fullmetal…" "huh?" Rich asked. "I said Fullmetal Alchemist. I've never seen it but I heard good things back before… well before all this". Richard's eyes lit up. Fullmetal Alchemist, both the original and Brotherhood were in his greatest series of all time list, there were reasons Both were good.

"Aw hell yes! You're in for a treat and If I ever find the original series of this I'm showing you that too, I grew up with that one as a kid. And appreciated it much more once I got back into anime… I kinda stopped watching anime because of kids in school".

"Alright! Sit your ass down on that couch we're doing a marathon of this for let's see..." Rich looked at the clock and saw that it was almost nine. "For three hours, or how ever long until you want to go to sleep. I'm assuming you'd like to get an early start finding your family tomorrow?"

"kinda but I have also been enjoying all of this so much that I want to have at least another full day of it all… is that selfish?" Lincoln felt like he'd be letting his family down if they didn't rush out there first thing tomorrow. But also realized that his family didn't find him in those two weeks he was gone, he had hoped it was because they either just didn't find him, or saw the large amount of people and decided it wasn't safe, whether he was there or not.

"Yeah let's just stay here tomorrow. We can plan it all out but we'll head out the day after." "Sounds good. Now without further ado I present Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood".

They were up most of the night, Lincoln was immediately enthralled by the show and Richard was glad he had someone to watch it with. He loved it the first time and it was even better watching it with Lincoln.

They got done with about a quarter of the show before Rich started to get drowsy, Lincoln was starting to reach that point as well. "Alright, one… one more". Rich said as he yawned and stretched his arms out. "Awww fine, I am kinda getting tired I guess".

After finishing the episode, the boys said goodnight to each other as they went to their respective rooms. They both changed into their night clothes and nearly fell asleep as soon as they laid down.

* * *

Richard and Lincoln were walking down the road, heading to another town five miles past the place Rich found Lincoln at. "So the note at the camp said they'd wait down here right?" Richard asked Lincoln. "Yeah they said they'd stay in this town for at least a month before moving on and if I didn't show..."

They reached the town which looked pretty close to the last one they were in and started looking around for a building that would accommodate ten people.

"Hey maybe their up there. That place looks easily defensible and has more than enough space for your group". Rich pointed to a three story building at the corner of the street.

Walking up to the front of the building they pulled the door open and almost got hit by a bat that came swinging at them. "Whoa whoa watch it." Richard said as he grabbed the bat and took it from their assailant. "Hey give it back and leave us alone!" "LYNN!" Lincoln shouted from behind Rich.

"Oh so this is your sporty sister huh? ...I can see it". Lincoln ran to his sister and they both held onto each other tightly. They heard movement coming down the steps at the other side of the room and looked to the person making the noise. "Hey Lynn what's with all the noi-" Luna glanced over to the new people one being a young adult and the other, a young boy with… white hair.

"Lincoln! Oh my god! Guys get down here!"

Soon enough the rest of the family, with Ronnie-Anne came down to greet their new guests, one of them being their lost brother/son. Everyone was so happy to have the family nearly back together and cried tears of joy and were ecstatic to have each other back. "And whose this guy twerp" Lori said as she pointed to Richard.

"Oh this here's Rich, he's been helping me trying to find you guys". "Hey guys, very glad to meet you all, I've heard so much. Let me see if I can get it right… and no hints Linc".

Pointing to each of the Loud sisters Richard began naming them off. "Let's see Lori, Leni, Luna, Lynn, Lola, Lana, Lu-" Richard was cut off when a gunshot rang out and he fell to the floor, a hole in his head. "OH MY GOD! Rich!"

"Heh heh thank you Lincoln my boy..." _"No! Nononono it can't be, he's dead. Richard killed him"._ _ **"Did he Lincoln or was he just helping him so they could double team you? Well maybe that "was" the plan".**_

"Hey Lincoln. Did ya miss me?" Jim stood there, with three of his men behind him. They all held various guns, pointed at Lincoln and his family. "Alright now if no one wants to get shot I need all of you out here in ten seconds! Move it!"

One by one the family headed out into the streets, where more of Jim's men waited. "Good. You guys are as obedient as Lincy boy here once I got to him".

"Shut up! I'm not your boy anymore!" Lincoln shouted. "Hm well Lincoln if you aren't my boy then I guess I get to have someone else right?" Jim said as he started looking over each of the Loud family. Lincoln was scared, now his family is going to suffer just because he wanted to be with them again. "No! No take me, remember how good I made you feel? I'll do even better this time."

Lincoln offered, not caring how he sounded to his family, they'd know soon enough if they already didn't. "Heh well now Lincoln that does sound like a tempting offer but you I've had before, I think I want something new, well someone new haha. Ooooohhh how about you girl?" Jim said as he pointed to Lynn Jr. "NO! Take me I swear I'll give you the best time you've ever had, just please, not my family, I beg you man".

"Nah" Jim grabbed Lynn by the arm and pulled her up towards him while his men pressured everyone to stay down or they'll _"kill a few and keep whoever is left"._ As they said.

Not even bothering to bring her inside, Jim threw Lynn face first on the sidewalk before jumping on top of her and pinning her waist down with his legs. He started ripping her shirt off as the family yelled for him to stop. Lori tried to get up but was smacked back down before she got anywhere. "Make one more move and I start killing". One of the fat men in Jim's company shouted.

Lynn was thrashing on the ground trying to get out from under Jim, who had just pulled her shorts off and had ripped her panties in two. "please stop!" she shouted. "That's it beg, that's what I want to hear".

Jim pulled his dick out of his pants as he prepared to enter her. Deciding he'd rather die than let this happen Lincoln jumped the closest guy to him and tried to get his gun. He was quickly thrown aside as his most recurring customer, Craig, came from behind him and pushed him back into the ground.

"Hey Lincoln, when you were gone I was so sad. But now you're here and we can get back to playing together, now just hold still while I take off these silly clothes. We told you that you wouldn't need them anymore dummy".

"No! Get off please not again!" Now the Loud family was forced to watch the sole male of the family and Lynn be defiled by these animals. "Hey Craig! let's go in at the same time alright?" "Yeah boss" Craig had pulled Lincoln's pants down, taking his underwear with them. "Alright one. Two. Three." they said as they both began pushing their dicks into their victims.

* * *

"AAAHHHH!" Lincoln shot out of bed and ended up falling on the floor. Hyperventilating, covered in a cold sweat and uncontrollably shaking. Lincoln couldn't concentrate on anything but his rapidly beating heart and he tried to calm down and process what just happened. _"W, where am I, What happened, where's Lynn and the others?"_

Lincoln's heart stopped as he heard footsteps coming from outside and he was scared of who was out there. He heard a knock at the door to the room and a familiar voice called out to him.

"Hey Linc! Buddy you okay? Can I come in?" It took Lincoln a minute but he remembered that voice, it was Richard and he was at his bunker. His heart rate was starting to calm down, and he could feel good enough to form words.

"Rich?... yeah come in."

Richard entered Lincoln's room and immediately turned the lights on. Seeing the poor boy in a sitting in a fetal position against the side of his bed. Covers a complete mess, thrown about and Lincoln's whole body shaking. He held his knees up to his chest as he started crying into his arms.

"Hey, hey Lincoln It's alright you're safe no ones here to hurt you, Jim's dead and so are all of those other mothefuckers. No one is coming after you, you are safe".

"But is my family?"

"*sigh. Alright buddy..." Rich said as he tried to sit next to Lincoln but he flinched and scooted away. _"Great this is gonna take some work, come on Rich time to be a big brother."_ Backing off a bit Richard tried to talk to him again. "So. Tell me...what was it about?"

Without looking up at him, still holding his head between his knees, Lincoln started recounting his nightmare to Rich, who's heart broke. "Ok so in this dre- Nightmare. Jim was still alive and killed me and started...look Lincoln, that is never going to happen. Jim is dead. Gone. Burnt into oblivion, we set the fire ourselves. Everyone that was in that hotel is dead and reduced to ash I swear to you! None of that is ever going to happen to you or your family".

"B, but wh-" "Nope! No buts, your nightmare is physically impossible, it can't happen if the people who are attacking you in it are dead". Rich kept trying to reassure him. "Lincoln I'm sure that wherever they are, they are safe. I promise you, that we will find them and when we do you can protect them. Hell if you'll still have me I'll give my life for you and all of them". Richard looked at Lincoln who had finally lifted his head up, his tear stained cheeks and red eyes looking back at him. "Yeah Rich, alright" Lincoln said in a tone that Richard could tell meant _"Yeah sure Rich whatever..."_

"You want me to stay in here? Keep guard so you can sleep?" "You can't protect me from my dreams Rich." Lincoln deadpanned. "Oh not so little White wonder, I can help people in any realm, be it the living, the dead, or the dream world."

 _"W_ _ow,_ _what an idiot_ _"_ Lincoln thought. "Hehehe alright Rich, you sure? I doubt you got enough sleep". "Oh no I'm good, I got almost four hours and I'm already here in the bunker so it doesn't matter how much I sleep. Just gotta get a better one tomorrow… well today haha". Lincoln laughed at just how much of a dork Rich was, but still, something bothered Lincoln. This dork somehow managed to blast away through over 30 guys and only come away with one gunshot wound. If anyone could keep their promise and help Lincoln it'd be him.

While Lincoln knew about that "other" side of Rich. It still felt like there was something beneath that, something much darker. He killed over 30 guys back at the hotel and possibly more before that. Richard hid a dark side and Lincoln hoped he'd never see it. He would need to ask Rich about it later though. "Ok man you go to sleep while I stand...wait sit, guard." Rich said with a smile. And with that Lincoln tried to drift off to sleep.

Not having any more nightmares, Lincoln woke up six hours later. Richard was laying on a pillow that was between him and the desk. Richard looked over at Lincoln as he woke up, glad to see that the boy didn't have any other nightmares. Rich hoped that he could do better when it came to helping Lincoln through this, he knew it was a marathon not a sprint, but that didn't mean he didn't want to accelerate the process.

"Hey there little dude. Sleep any better?" Lincoln looked over to him, rubbing his eyes as he tried to fully wake up. "Yeah I gue-" Lincoln's thoughts immediately went back to last night, waking up in a cold sweat from a nightmare. He sat up on the bed, legs dangling over the side as he looked down, not wanting to think about that horrible nightmare, but his mind had other ideas. "So Lincoln what do you want for breakfast? I have a lot more than just cereal here." Rich noticed Lincoln was deep in thought, no doubt remembering his nightmare last night, and immediately tried to get him to focus on something else.

"Wha- um I don't know, what do we have?" Lincoln asked as he slowly got off the bed. "Well come on dude, follow me and I'll show you". Richard said as he went to throw an arm around Lincoln's shoulder. But as soon as he got close Lincoln's eyes widened and he shoved him back, "No! Get back, don't touch me! I, I…" Lincoln started shaking as more images from last night came rushing back. Lincoln held his head and tightly shut his eyes as everything came back to him.

* * *

Lynn on the ground, clothes torn to shreds, while he himself was forced to the ground as his own shirt was ripped in two.

"Oooohhh fuck yeah! she's even tighter than you were in the beginning Lincoln!" Jim shouted out in ecstasy as he rapidly thrust in and out of Lincoln's sister. Craig was above Lincoln as he pulled his pants off and began fucking him into the ground at the same time, not giving any time for Lincoln to prepare.

He could hear his families cries and pleas for them to stop, while Lynn and Lincoln looked to each other. Tears in their eyes as they tried to find some comfort in the others gaze. Once Jim was finished with Lynn, leaving her in a shaking mess on the ground. He walked back over to the family to pick another victim out.

Meanwhile some of Jim's men went over to Lynn to have their own fun with her as she started screaming out again. Two men had now joined Craig in his fun with Lincoln, one taking his mouth while the other started playing with Lincoln's dick. "Wait, wait, wait. I just got the best idea." Jim said as everyone had stopped what they were doing, Jim's men pulled out of Lincoln and Lynn as they listened to him.

"So let's see here, why don't we have Lincoln here pick the next victim? And the best part about that is, he will be the one fucking them". Lincoln began coughing, trying to regain his voice to shout his protests. "No! I'm not even considering doing that shit! that's not going to happen."

"Oh is that so?" Jim had pulled Lola up from the group, aiming his gun at her head. "So here's the deal Linc. You fuck one of them or else I'll kill one of your precious sisters every time you say no to me". "Please no! Jim I'm begging you here man, please don't do this, I'll do anything, anything but that." Lincoln said as he fell to his knees, holding his hands together as he pleaded for Jim to stop.

"So is that a no I just heard?" Jim asked as he cocked the gun, before aiming it back at Lola's head. "O, ok OK! please just… stop." With tears in his eyes Lincoln looked to his mom as he prayed for her to have an answer for him, he didn't know what to do and he didn't want to and couldn't do that to anyone of them.

"Honey… It's okay. You don't have to do a damn thing for this man, we understand". His mom said to him as more tears fell from her and her son's faces. "Sorry mamma bear but if you don't want any of your kids dying then he has to".

"Just take me! Leave my children out of this and I'll satisfy all of your needs, no struggle". She pleaded. Suddenly Ronnie-Anne spoke up, deciding to make a sacrifice so no one else got hurt. "Hey Lame-o! Just take me, come on it's fine". She said as she wiped away tears. She had thought about this kinda stuff before and imagined how that would be with Lincoln, but not like this.

"Oh looks like we have a volunteer! Well come on Lincy boy let's get started".

"R, Ronnie… I, I can't. Not, not like this. I'd rather all of us die than do this to any of you!" "Lincoln don't say that. I'm giving you permission here, I'm consenting to this and I woul- I, I would love for my first time to be with you".

"Ooohhh am I sensing some type of relationship here? She may not be your sister but I'm still fine with it. Go ahead and start getting busy in the next two minutes or I start shooting".

Lincoln looked on horrified at Jim, he couldn't believe this was happening, not again. Ronnie-Anne walked up to Lincoln, standing a few feet in front of him before taking her purple hoodie off and beginning to undo her shorts. "Ronnie stop. I, I can't do this." Lincoln tried to stop her but she continued to take her clothes off.

Lincoln blushed a bit and looked away before she grabbed his head with both hands and pulled him into a kiss. Shoving him down to the ground she got on top of him before saying. "If, if you won't. Then I will" she said as she leaned down to kiss him again. The louds started looking away before Jim shouted at them to look back at the scene unfolding before them.

Ronnie had grabbed a hold of Lincoln's dick, stroking it up and down like she saw the men doing to him before. Lincoln moaned as his eyes rolled back into his head, he hated that Ronnie was forced to do this, but he had to admit that at least this was better than the other times.

"A, alright Lame-o... let's just get this over with". She said as she aimed his dick at her entrance before lowering herself down on his throbbing member.

* * *

"Noooooo". Lincoln shouted, still holding his head shaking it side to side as he screamed. "Lincoln, fucking snap out of it!" Richard said as he slapped him across the face. Lincoln was forced out of his nightmare when he felt the pain of Rich's slap. Richard placed his hands on Lincoln's shoulders and looked straight into his eyes, not caring if he had protests about Rich touching him. "Listen here Lincoln, that nightmare is never going to happen, you are safe, and I swear on my life your family is safe too. No one like that is ever going to hurt you again."

Lincoln held a hand up to his cheek as Richard continued. "listen I can only imagine the shit you had to go through in that place but all of that is behind you, none of that is ever going to happen again and especially not to your family. I know this is going to be hard to get through, but everything gets better with time and I will do my best to help you manage these issues".

Lincoln looked into Rich's eyes as he saw the sincerity in him, Lincoln felt a sense of comfort with Rich as he tried to push the thoughts of the night before from his head.

"So now back to the original subject, what do you want for breakfast? I can make some pancakes or eggs, anything you want". Lincoln looked down in thought, wiping away tears that escaped his eyes and tried calming his breathing, trying to come down from the terror in his head.

Focusing on Rich's question, throwing everything else out of his mind, his thoughts went back to his family. Happily eating breakfast around the kitchen table, everyone's plates filled with eggs, pancakes and bacon. Those breakfasts were rare but when they happened, everything else disappeared, except for the food on their plates and the smiles on their faces.

"Um c, could you make a bit of everything? You know like eggs, pancakes, bacon, the works." Richard smiled down at him. "Well yeah man I got ya covered. You want to help me? I've never really made anything but the eggs before and they were never for me hehe". Lincoln smiled back at him as he nodded, glad he could help cook something other than the stuff they had to eat out there. Wiping the tears away from his eyes before heading to the kitchen with Richard.

* * *

After a mostly successful cooking session, Rich and Lincoln had made a decent sized breakfast. Lincoln gladly ate everything they made while Richard just ate some of the hash-browns and a couple slices of Bacon.

"So Lincoln… I was thinking after we get done eating we can plan out where to start searching and try to figure out where they might've gone after the camp, cause we both know they wouldn't have stayed there after the attack". Richard said between bites of his food.

Lincoln finished the eggs he had in his mouth before replying. "Yeah Rich, that's fine with me, I know my mom mentioned something about a town we were gonna head to north of our camp". "Well we'll have to look at the map and you can tell me where the camp was, then maybe we can see which town she was talking about, maybe it was the one I found you in and they passed through it already. Hopefully they might even still be there".

Once they got done eating Rich grabbed the map and brought it over to the dining table while Lincoln went back to his room to get dressed.

"Alright so the town I found you in is this circle up here". Rich said as he brought the red marker up to the circle and drew a line from the bunker to the new outpost. "Now do you think you can find where the camp was based off of this map? Maybe any road names or area that looks familiar".

Lincoln looked over the map for a few minutes not really remembering any details about the camp's surroundings or where they broke off into the woods to make it.

Then he saw a road name he remembered and pointed to it, having Richard mark the road before trying to figure out where on the road they broke to the woods at. Going off of the legend in the bottom right corner Lincoln saw that the different shades of green on the map represented the amount of trees and vegetation that covered the area.

Thinking back to how dense the forest was around the tents they set up Lincoln deduced it was the in one of the darker shades on the map. Richard had circled all the areas that had a dense section of the woods along the road. "Do you remember where you were before the camp? Maybe a specific marker before the road or further south along it?"

Lincoln thought back, there was a small grouping of houses along the road that they held up in for a few days before moving out again. Lincoln looked at the map as he thought about how long they traveled and the distance they could've covered in that time. Tracing the road Lincoln looked made a guess based off of those variables.

"I think we were held up somewhere around here before finding the next camp". Richard drew a small circle and, based off of Lincoln's details, drew a line to the circles he made around the wooded areas. Going off of the amount of time on the road and approximate distance covered, they narrowed it down to three different sections of the woods. Two of those sections were on the left side of the road and closest to the town Lincoln was at.

"Well alright! I feel good about this, nice job detective white." Richard said as he lightly slapped Lincoln on the back. "Ok these nicknames, while a little funny are gonna get old." Lincoln said.

"Doesn't mean I'll stop using them". Richard said with a toothy grin before heading to his own room to get dressed. Lincoln decided to follow him, having some questions he needed answered.

* * *

Richard closed the door and got dressed, noticing the key he uses to unlock his journal was right next to the lock-box, his mind filled with dread. Sure he told Lincoln about his issues, but he didn't want Lincoln to know the thoughts he had in his head and how messed up his psyche really was, even if he'd gotten better since starting this.

Putting the key back in the drawer Rich was scared of what else Lincoln might've looked at and worry filled his head, there wasn't really anything bad Rich had in here but his personal space was violated. With how paranoid Rich is, breaching his personal space and his thoughts messed with him and caused him to have panic attacks, worrying him out of his mind and he couldn't think about anything else. Now those feelings were coming back.

Rich heard a knock at the door ans Lincoln asked if he was decent enough for Lincoln to come in. "Um yeah, just a minute". Richard took the key and threw it under his pillow, even though Lincoln might've already read some of his journal. He felt betrayed.

Richard opened the door and saw Lincoln with a contemplative expression, Rich was wondering what was going through his head. "H, hey Rich… do you have a minute? I had a couple things I wanted to ask you." "uh yeah, sure Lincoln come on in". Lincoln walked in and sat down on Richard's bed, hands folded between his legs as he twiddled his thumbs. "so Rich, I uh, I have something to tell you..." _**"Lincoln what are you doin you idiot!?"**_ _"I have to tell him, I shouldn't have been snooping around in his room invading his privacy like that in the first place"._ _ **"Ugh god! Damn your bleeding heart".**_

"I, uh kinda rifled through your room while you were cooking dinner last night". Richard was surprised Lincoln confessed to it, well not too surprised. Lincoln seemed like a good kid so far, well even a great kid. But now he was worried of what he found or what he thinks about him. _**"Maybe he realized you're a piece of shit. You even forgot you were, but I never forget. And now after reading your journal I guarantee**_ _ **he sees you the same way".**_

 _"_ _Listen, Lincoln was fine last night and this morning so I don't think he's worried about being around me anymore. Maybe it's about something else. I'm ignoring you again, you never have anything good to say and you always made me feel like shit. I'm better than that now"._

"Oh, you did? Well I'm surprised at that, and a little betrayed. But I also can't blame you… you still don't really know me that well on a personal level beyond my secret attraction. Which only five people knew about before you. So uh did you find anything you want to talk about or?"

Lincoln pondered his questions that he wanted to know, they weren't really bad questions but they still confused Lincoln based off of what he found last night. And he wanted an answer.

"So Rich first off, I was looking through the photo album you have and I was wanting to know what happened to your family? I'm assuming that since you're here and they aren't that they're gone. But you never said what happened to them. Since I told you about mine I felt it was only fair I asked the same question."

Rich was certainly surprised by this question, he didn't expect something like this. "Well yeah I could've protected them and they would probably be here now but instead I… I left them. I abandoned them when all of this started to make some kind of stupid "blank slate". Richard started as he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn't like thinking about this topic, he didn't like thinking about the family he left...like a piece of shit.

"You, you left them?... Why? You looked so happy with them, what reason did you have to leave that?" "Because I'm a selfish asshole that's why! All my life I played the nice guy, hiding the dark part of myself inside. I had, and still sometimes have anger issues. The way I acted, all the choices I made! All the sacrifices I gave were for them! And I decided to leave all of that because this apocalypse finally gave me the excuse to let that darkness out."

Richard was breathing heavy as he continued shouting at the top of his lungs while he answered Lincoln's question. Lincoln himself had scooted back on the bed a bit as Rich screamed at him and told him that he basically left his family on their own to survive in this apocalypse.

"That darkness inside me needed somewhere to go and I tried using my fists, letting all that anger out on a punching bag. And while that helped a bit, there were times when I felt so angry. Angry at the world, myself, god. Sometimes I was mad when I didn't even have a legitimate reason to be. basically for no reason at all. I felt so much anger and it wasn't until halfway into 2018 that I actually found a way to manage all these feelings...".

"But then, then this apocalypse happened and a switch turned in my head and I finally let this "beast" inside of me out. Killing zombies, saving people and killing those who would do others wrong. I always believed in second chances and that all life was precious, but when the dead started rising and half of my ideals and believes were gone. I still gave people the chance to walk away, showing them some type of mercy, but if they didn't then that was their choice".

"I know I must sound like some homicidal maniac but I could finally become the person I wanted to be when this apocalypse started and now I finally feel free. These past six months have been some of the best I've ever had and It's been so liberating".

 _"Well that kinda answered my second question too, now I get how Richard killed all those guys. It wasn't just the determination to save me. It was because he had an excuse to shoot first and not feel bad about it. An excuse to kill"._ _ **"Well yeah, he's dark and scary but now I'm starting to like him. He may have psychopathic tendencies, but at least he let's it all out in a way that doesn't hurt innocent people".**_ _"B_ _ut, but he enjoys it, the killing. This sheds a new light on that night. The way he talked to Jim and what he did to him. He probably liked it"._

"So yeah Lincoln, that's me. I'm a psycho and I not only kill people, but there's a part of me that enjoys it, there's a part of me that wants it. I doubt you've seen it because of your age, but there's a show called _Dexter_ and it's about a killer who only kills serial killers, rapists etc. people that avoided getting caught by police, or repeat offenders. I could kinda relate to him".

This was the first time Richard went into this amount of detail about himself to anyone and here he was spilling his guts out to a twelve year old kid. Someone he's probably scaring the shit out of right now by telling him that he's a psycho.

"So yeah there ya have it, I left my family because this apocalypse gave me the chance to stat over and become the man that I needed to be. Someone who could save people and let his dark passenger out without being tied down by the people he loved. The people he cared about. I left them so I could live out some stupid fantasy of being some type of anti-hero… **I'M SUCH A FUCKING IDIOT!"**

Richard fell to his knees as he started bawling his eyes out in front of Lincoln. This was it. The dam had finally broke and Richard realized how much of a stupid fuck he'd been. He threw away a perfect, loving family so he could live out a dumb dream of being a "hero" but not even close to the version he had in his head.

Lincoln just sat there. Still in shock and disbelief at just how deep Richard's darkness went, and how dark it actually was. On the surface Richard seems like a well-adjusted happy guy, with a minor attraction. But underneath that lay a dark killer, be it one that only killed other killers and criminals. Lincoln didn't know how to feel about all this, he got off of Richard's bed and stared at him as he continued to break down in front of Lincoln's eyes.

Lincoln didn't know what to do here. Rich just spilled his guts out to him and Lincoln couldn't figure out what to say. "I, I can't believe it… I lost who I used to be. I used to be a lot better than this. Better than I am. But now… now all I am is some deranged, damaged psycho who enjoys having an excuse to kill people. I never wanted to hurt anyone before and here I am killing, I… oh god I killed so many people that I've lost count".

"Rich..." Lincoln said. trying to get Richard's attention. "I, how messed up am I? How did I get to this point? Lincoln I, I don't know what to say here I, I don't know what to do anymore". Richard was a mess of tears and shaking. He felt like his body was going to go into shock at any second, there was an intense pain around his heart and he felt like he was going to vomit.

"Rich!… calm down it's fine, well I mean it's not really "fine" but you haven't hurt anyone innocent, not anyone who didn't do someone else wrong. Sure you might enjoy the killing but you know what? There are a bunch of anti-heroes who kill and they do it because they enjoy it and it keeps the bad guys from coming back".

Richard looked up to Lincoln as he started focusing on the words he was saying. "I'm not saying I condone the killing but at least you aren't killing good people. And if you really don't want to kill at all anymore then so be it, it might be hard to do but just stop. You said that you don't act on your attractions, well do the same with this. Try and stop, and be as close to who you used to be before all this. Be the person you really wanted to be".

Richard started wiping the tears from his eyes as he thought about what Lincoln was saying. "Wha- how are you like this Lincoln? I mean seriously how can you be this damn mature when you're only twelve fucking years old!?".

"I, I don't know I just am". "Well *sniff… alright um I don't know what to do now heh. That was just a very heavy moment for both of us and I think we need a new distraction". A thought crawled Richard's head. "And I know the perfect way to do it". Rich said with a wide grin.

Richard led Lincoln into the storage room and showed him the small range that was set up. "So I think it's time for a little firearms training, and this is also a good chance for you to get used to your gun". Once they expended all the excess ammo that Rich could spare, Rich checked the clock and saw that they were already halfway done with the day.

The rest of their time was spent playing more games and watching a couple movies. They didn't get into any deep or meaningful conversations because they realized that neither of them would benefit from them, so they just focused on talking about different topics ranging from games to movies, books and even a little about sports.

"Alright Linc my dude it's getting close to the time I wanted to go to bed at, but if you want to stay up more feel free. Just remember that we are heading out on our journey tomorrow and might not be back here for a while".

"Ok Rich. Have a goodnight. And again… I'm sorry about snooping around your room". "Ah it's fine man don't sweat it. Like I said earlier I get it. If you're curiosity gets the better of you again though just ask me. I won't hide anything from you. And besides it gave me the chance to let out something I didn't know I needed. Now I have some things to think about.".

And with that Richard went off to bed, Lincoln went to sleep not too long after him, and slept through the night, not having another nightmare. At least for now.

* * *

 **And There you have it, we got a deeper look into Richard's psyche and Lincoln has started feeling the emotional scars in the aftermath of Jim's torture. Next chapter we take one more look into the past before getting to the last chapter. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and as always Leave a review or comment. Bye for now.**


	7. Into The Wild

**Hello everyone, I bring you the next chapter in Finding Who Was Lost. This is the last flashback chapter for this part of the story. I have one more chapter after this and then we'll move on to Returning Who Was Lost. so enjoy the chapter and let me know what ya think.**

 **disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Loud House.**

* * *

 **Into The Wild**

It had been a week into the Loud's stay at the shelter. Most of the family had varying jobs that ranged from cooking, moving supplies, and helping out with medical or research, among a few other odd jobs. The only of the older Loud children that didn't have to work was Lori as she needed to stay and help take care of the younger ones, since Rita was helping in the medical tent.

Lynn Sr. was working in the kitchen and Lincoln was helping him with things like cooking and cleaning up the dishes. There were a few other people that worked with them in their building such as Tom and Ryan, whom they got along with pretty well. Tom was in his mid twenties and Ryan was thirty. Each building had their own "employees" doing the building specific tasks.

Leni and Luna were part of a small group who went around their building checking in on families and other people in the shelter to see if anyone needed anything, trying to show everyone that the shelter cared about each individual's status and morale.

Ronnie-Anne and Clyde helped with moving and sorting supplies between the buildings and tents. Lynn Jr. managed to be a part of the neighborhood watch that shelter staff organized to help the guards keep the peace. She had the support of Harold and Howard McBride among a couple others they've met in the shelter.

The first week was tough on the Loud Family. Everyone had to adjust to their new life, not knowing how long they'd actually be here. No one knew how close the government was to solving this virus or finding a way to stop it from spreading further. Not to mention they were still in mourning of their lost sister/daughter Luan. They were trying their best to move forward, knowing that's what she would want, and things got better with time but there was always that lingering feeling of something missing.

Lincoln and Lori were plagued by nightmares because of that first day. Lincoln's consisted of seeing Luan crushed by the pole, asking him why he didn't save her and the moment he bashed her brains with Ronnie's bat. Lori's nightmare was when she discovered Luan's corpse and the moment Bobby was bitten. The dread she felt when the realization of it set in. Ronnie would tell her that she wished Lori was the one who got bit before she woke up.

Eventually, with much support from their family and friends, the nightmares stopped and they were able to start sleeping easier again. Well about as easy as could be expected. Ronnie assured Lori that she didn't blame her for any of what happened, and that she was glad she was here.

When they weren't on their jobs the family had to find things to occupy themselves so they wouldn't die of boredom. None of the friends that the family knew were around, they hoped at least someone else would have made it but they didn't find anyone they knew. Well one of them found someone. On one of her days on the job, Luna was surprised to see a familiar face, Sam Sharp.

Before all of this Luna and her had started a relationship, and both of them were worried about the other until they were once again reunited on their third day in the shelter. Lynn Jr was able to convince the shelter staff to let her create some sports teams to increase morale and offer up some distractions for the residents.

There wasn't much in terms of equipment but they made do with what they had. Lynn, being the sports junkie that she is, packed her soccer, and football. Forming a junior league and adult league for both sports so no one would feel left out.

There were only a handful of times that the teams could meet and train or play because of the various responsibilities and jobs that everyone had, but it was something at least.

Luna and Sam had formed a new band with a couple of the other guests living there one of them being Chris, a friend that Luna had met a couple days into their stay. he was a few years older than her. They played in all the buildings at least once a night. Chris had to build a makeshift set of drums to complete their group.

The third day in the shelter started to cause problems with some of the residents. Ronnie-Anne had tried to call her Mother and see how she was doing, and how Bobby was in the end. But she found that she had no service, there was no internet connection or cell signal within the shelter. Everyone else started to realize that there was no way for them to contact the outside world and demanded answers from the shelter staff.

They simply said that everything needed to be shut down because of the signal interference it was causing with their communication systems. They said that they needed to stay in constant contact with other shelters and government locations for updates on the virus and status of everyone else. Some of the residents bought it but others weren't convinced.

There was a group that formed in secret to start looking into some strange things around the shelter, such as some shady staff members and the fact about them being cut off from the rest of the world. The group only had a few members so they could keep a low profile and not be discovered. Some of the members included Harold, Ronnie and Lynn Jr.

They also got Tom from building one, Luna's friend Chris from building two. Christa, a friend that Lynn Jr made when she asked Lynn if she could join the soccer team, was a part of the group and she was in building three. There was also a man from building four they befriended called Jack, he joined because he was infuriated that he couldn't get into contact with his family on the outside.

They wanted to make sure they had at least one person from every building in case they needed to use each others room to lay low. Over the course of two weeks they each preformed small investigations and eavesdropped on conversations when they could. making notes on small things like patrol routes by guards and whose on duty when they switch out the guards. Lynn kept note of multiple shady scientists and researchers meeting to discuss project on some type of experiment they were conducting in a lab.

The groups biggest discovery came two weeks in when Ronnie used her job of moving supplies to quickly sneak into one of the medical tents and found a file. Not wanting to raise suspicion by taking it, she took pictures of half the folder before needing to leave. The folder was titled: experiment T.

* * *

The group met in Tom's room since there was no one else that he shared a room with, unlike most of the others. Harold, Lynn, and Ronnie didn't want to involve any of their families. "Ok so this file talks about some type of research on the zombies by the scientists here. That's not really an issue, but the problem here is that they are using us as test subjects to further their studies".

"Oh my god. So the people that they've been saying have sneaked out and left the shelter is just some bullshit lie. The guards are taking them down there". "Yeah it looks like it Lynn. And watch your language". Harold scolded her. This made Christa and Tom snicker. And Lynn growled at them in response, causing them both to look away and whistle like they didn't do anything.

"Alright guys well we can't just leave the people down there. We need to get them ou-". Harold was interrupted when a knock came from the door. Tom and Jack immediately grabbed the pictures and evidence they've collected and threw them in one of the dresser drawers while everyone but Chris hid in the closet.

Tom opened the door and found Luna standing in front of him. She barged into the room without a word and Tom closed the door about to ask her why the hell she just barged into his room like this when she suddenly spoke up.

"Alright Tom I know you and the others have some dumb little group and I know my sister Lynn is a part of it. I want to know what you guys have been doing. And don't lie to me!"

"Hey I honestly don't know what you're talking about I don't know anything about some type of secret group and I barely even talk to Lynn". "Alright mate that's a lie. I've seen you guys talking like you have some big secret and I have also noticed you and her talk like that with others. Including you Chris".

"Hey Luna I don't know crap". Chris responded. Lynn suddenly opened the closet door. "Guys give it up she's not that stupid". "Yeah dude, we have a secret group and we have been investigating the guards and staff here because they're up to something".

Luna had started suspecting the same thing, especially since Sam was one of the people who "left". She knew that Sam wouldn't leave here, and even if she did she would have at least told Luna about it. Meeting the rest of the group, Luna formed a nice friendship with Jack. Mainly on account of his British accent, even though he was a good fifteen years older than her.

"So do you guys know where these people might be held?" Luna asked. Hoping that they at least had some idea, she didn't want to imagine what they might be doing with Sam. "Well going off of what the document that Ronnie found, it looks like the CDC building connects to some type of lab that has another entrance in building three. The door is key code protected but luckily the idiots had that code in the file".

The group, now with Luna added to their ranks were starting to form a plan on how they could sneak into the lab. They knew there was no way to go in through the CDC entrance so they created a plan to infiltrate the lab from building three. The door was located on the east side of the mess hall and there were two guards posted at all times.

"So Lynn, I was thinking we could have Lisa create some type of smoke bomb or something so we can sneak in through the cloud while the guards are distracted. I'm sure something like that would be easy for her to make". "Well that's a good idea Luna but we'll need two type of distractions and I don't think the same trick would work twice with these guys. We're gonna need two different distractions for this to work".

"Maybe Chris, Jack and I could start some type of fight at one of the tables by the door at dinner and force the two guards to break it up. Then you guys could use that window to sneak into the lab." Tom said. "Hey Tom, considering you just volunteered me without asking, I don't really like that plan. You know we are gonna get thrown in that stupid jail that they made after what happened with Jerry".

After the first week the guards had created a jail area in the courtyard where they kept people who committed various crimes or broke some of the rules the shelter had. Depending on the crime, the time people were in there ranged from a day to the entire stay in the shelter in the extreme cases.

There were only two people who did something to deserve that punishment. Jerry and Thompson. Jerry had assaulted one of the girls in his building, trying to force himself on her before one of her neighbors heard the commotion and stopped him. Thompson had stolen supplies from various residents before being caught by Jack. These two people were locked up until the virus was under control and then they'd be transferred to a prison facility.

"Yeah Chris but with the way they've been dealing out sentences I don't think we'd be there for more than a few days. Maybe a week at most". "Ugh fine damnit, but you owe me after this". Chris responded.

"Alright so that covers our first distraction but what about the second one? Who's going to set off the smoke bomb?" Harold asked. "I think that me and Ronnie should be able to handle it right?" Christa said as she looked over to her partner in crime. "yeah I'm cool with that. I'd love to throw something at these pricks. Trying to stop me from calling my mom at a time like this". Ronnie replied before Harold shot her a quick glare. "Oh sorry Mr. McBride". Ronnie said with a sheepish smile.

"Okay then that leaves me, Luna and Lynn as the team to sneak in to the lab. Now for this to work properly I think we should do this on Friday night, I've noticed that for some reason that night draws the most people".

Luna suggested that they only use a thirty minute time frame since the dinners usually last about an hour before most of the people start shuffling out.

 _"_ _I just hope you're alright down there Sam"._

* * *

Ten minutes into dinner The first distraction team made their move. "Alright guys before we start this I just want to say, blanket of forgiveness since we need to make this convincing". Tom said, feeling bad that he was about to try and beat the shit out of his friends. "Oh please Tom, I'm not gonna give you the chance to get many punches in. I'm gonna mess up that pretty little face of yours".

"Oh Chris would you shut up. let's just get this over with". Jack said in annoyance. Without warning Tom surprised Chris with a right hook, knocking him into Jack so he had a reason to join their fight. Jack shoved Chris off of him before slamming Tom against the table, grabbing onto his collar as he punched him across the left side of his face. Chris turned Jack around and sucker punched him in the face before turning to Tom and hitting him in the chest.

At this point the guards at the door started running over to the fight trying to split everyone up and subduing them. The infiltration team used this chance to quickly slip through the door.

Once inside they followed a staircase down to a hallway with multiple doors on both sides. Slowly opening the first door on their right, they found an empty room with a bunch of monitors on the left side and a table on the opposite wall and a couple lockers on the wall to the left of that.

"What the hell?" Lynn said as they looked at the monitors, seeing that they were running surveillance on each of the buildings. There were also a few that looked like they showed the lab where they were keeping the people they've been taking. "Oh my god Sam!" Luna exclaimed as she saw her girlfriend in a glass cell, laying down on a bed.

"Okay girls let's find out where that is and get these people out of here". Harold said as they walked out of the room. Checking the other rooms in the hallway. One door led to some sort of supply room, and the one to the left of the first door led to a small armory.

"Alright that just leaves one more". They opened the door to find a research room with a bunch of medical equipment spread across the tables and computers showing a flow of data and status on test subjects.

They walked along the hallway that was lined with the glass cells they saw on the monitors earlier. There were residents of various ages inside and there were signs that showed the different status of the people inside. "Everyone split up and look for Sam I'll start unlocking the cells. Well… not all of them". He said with a saddened expression.

"Why not all of them? Mr. McBride?" Lynn asked. "Well look at those status signs. Some show people that are infected, there's a few that show uninfected and I'm hoping there aren't any that have people who have turned already".

"Oh… please no". Luna said as she rushed off to look for Sam. Lynn headed in the other direction as Harold started looking around as well.

After a few minutes of searching around Harold found Sam and looked at her status. "sigh* okay". He opened the door and woke Sam up, telling her Luna, Lynn and him were here to get everyone out. "Listen Sam… I know what happened here but just… don't tell Luna yet. Not until we are all safe. Alright". Harold said as his eyes started tearing up before quickly wiping them and telling Sam to follow the small hall back to the front of the room.

Everyone was surprised there weren't any guards or scientists down here. But they figured they had their own dinner breaks, and they didn't know how much longer they'd be gone. Harold started going through all the cells and unlocking everyone who wasn't infected yet, he didn't like how many he had to leave behind.

Once everyone was back at the front Luna saw Sam waiting for her and ran up to her. Grabbing onto her into a tight embrace before pulling her head back and grabbing the back of Sam's head, pulling her in for a deep kiss. Taking a step they haven't yet had in their relationship.

"Alright you two lovebirds, if you're done then we have ten minutes till Ronnie and Christa set off the second distraction". Harold explained the plan to the people they rescued and told them to keep a low profile and head back to apartment thirty five in building one, Tom's room. He had given them the key before they started their plan.

* * *

Back upstairs Ronnie and Christa had their two smoke bombs prepared to go off. They were going to throw one of them in the middle of the room and another towards the area by the guards. "as soon as we throw these we need to head back to Tom's room, and wait for everyone to show up". Christa said, she was the one who had the key considering her athleticism and how quickly she could make it to the room.

"Got it". Ronnie said as she looked at her watch seeing they had three minutes left before they needed to throw the bombs. Lisa was curious why they needed the bombs in the first place, and they told her it was for a good cause. Saying that the government was hiding something and they needed them to rescue people.

Lisa wanted to know more but decided the less she knew about what they were doing the better.

"one minute". Christa said.

* * *

Lynn was the last one to head out of the lab. Making sure to take pictures of everything before passing a button by the entrance of the lab that said: all cells above it. The button looked the same as the one on the cell doors and she figured it would unlock every one of the cells in the lab. _"These bastards should be able to handle it but not before some of them get what's coming"._ Lynn pushed it, seeing all the doors open before shutting the lab entrance and following the rest of the group out.

Harold took pictures of the first room they went into before everyone made it to the top of the stairs. "Alright guys like we talked about, just shuffle out of here, don't group up too big and act natural as you make your way to the meeting location. One of our people should already be waiting there to let you in".

"One minute… get ready". Lynn said as she looked at her watch.

* * *

Ronnie and Christa pulled their hoods over their heads and grabbed the makeshift smoke grenades they had in the pockets. They quickly tossed them at the same time, one landing five feet away from the guards and the other landing in the center of the room. They went off causing the entire room to scream in panic and head for the exit, the guards stumbled away from the doorway coughing as they tried to make it through the smoke cloud.

Without drawing attention Ronnie and Christa scurried out the front door of the building, lost within the panicked crowd of people. Christa ran as quickly as she could without raising suspicion back to Tom's room and waited for the people to show up.

Ronnie-Anne had went to join the Loud family at dinner so they wouldn't be too suspicious. Ronnie had told Lincoln that she would be a little late and to save her a tray of food. "Hey Ronnie, over here". Lincoln called her over to the table they were sitting at. "I saved you a seat and made sure to get an extra tray for you. By the way have you seen Lynn or Luna? It's weird they aren't here too. Especially Lynn she never misses a meal".

"Oh, um I think I saw them in the courtyard, they were talking to some friends out there".

The group of escapees stuck together until they made it to the building's entrance, then they split up into smaller groups or off on their own. Harold felt it best if Sam went with him and he told Lynn and Luna to find their family at dinner so they wouldn't raise too much suspicion.

Luna and Lynn joined the family at dinner after getting a tray for themselves, not getting much so they could head up to the room as soon as possible. "Hey guys sorry we're a bit late we were talking to some of our friends and we were wondering if we could stay the night in their room?" Lynn Sr. and Rita looked to each other before shrugging and nodding their heads back at the girls. "Thanks guys". They socialized with their siblings and left for Tom's room when they were done. Winking at Ronnie-Anne, telling her everything went according to plan.

One by one the escapees found their way to the meet up point and Christa let them all inside, handing them food and water so they could rest. Tom had saved up the points he got paid for his job so they'd have enough for everyone, even though they had no idea how many people there would be.

The Loud sisters were the last to make it into the room, noticing how cramped the place looked with everyone inside. There were a total of twelve people they were able to get out, unfortunately there was double that they had to leave. Harold informed everyone that they'd be staying the night in the room and that the next day the group would see how to proceed. Reassuring everyone that none of them would be going back to that place.

Harold had Luna and Sam follow him out to the hallway, dreading that him and Sam had to deliver terrible news. "Sigh* alright Sam… go ahead". Luna was confused by what he meant by that but when she saw the anguished look on her girlfriend's face, that confusion was replaced with fear. "No...nono don't tell me that. NO! I just got you back I, I can't lose you again, there ha-"

Luna was silenced when Sam pulled her in for a kiss as tears streamed down their faces. Harold walked back inside the room to give the two their privacy. "Listen Luna I, I just want you to know that I love you and I want to spend every last minute I have with you and your rockin family. I know this is going to be hard to ask but after I'm gone I want you to try and move on". "How can you ask me that!? Your the first real relationship I've had with anyone, how can I move on from you". "I know and I'm not telling you to not grieve for me or forget me, just try and move past this. I don't want you to feel this hurt for long".

"Uuugghhh I, I'll try Sam, I'll try for you. But until that point we aren't letting a single second go to waste". "I couldn't agree more babe". Sam said as they shared another kiss before walking back into the room, their hands woven together.

* * *

Back in the Lab the residents who were already turned attacked the others, turning them before the lab techs returned from their dinner break. "Alright Jenkins There's a couple other subjects I want to infect and run a couple more tests on the ones we've had infected for the longest period to see what change they have gone through".

The group of three lab techs opened the door to the lab and were met by the infected standing only ten feet away from the door. Before they could close the door and get out of there they were attacked by the walkers and were feasted on while the residents in the shelter started settling in for the night.

There weren't many staff members working in the CDC for the night shift. Only a handful of researchers and lab techs with five guards stationed about. The walkers had managed to shamble their way to the door leading inside and attack the unaware guard at the door. The other guards only managed to kill five of the walkers before being brought down themselves.

Two of the researchers were able to escape and sounded the alarm system, startling everyone in the shelter.

The guards came running and managed to take out most of the walkers in the CDC, a few of the guards didn't make it and they were quickly executed by their fellow soldiers. All the gunfire drew the attention of the residents and some of them ran outside to see what the commotion was.

Lynn knew what was going on and smiled that some of them had gotten taken out by their own little pet project.

Harold noticed this and tried not to think the worst. "Lynn please tell me you didn't do what I think you did". "What? I think they got what they deserved, they abducted people and deliberately infected them so they could "study" the virus. That's not right". Lynn defended herself. "So that gives you the right to cause their deaths by letting the infected out!?" Lynn just shrugged in response and walked away. Harold was surprised by Lynn's coldness towards the situation, showing no remorse.

* * *

The next day all the civilians were called out to the courtyard for an important announcement from the staff. "Alright I'm sure all of you are wondering why we called you out here today. Last night there was an attack in the building three mess hall, thankfully no one was injured but the situation could've been a lot worse".

Some of the conspirators looked to each other before turning their attention back to the guy in charge. "In addition to that some of the research and guard staff were killed last night when some infected managed to get inside the shel-" "That's Bullshit! they didn't come from outside." the commander was interrupted by one of the escapees shouting out.

The man walked out to the front of the audience and the commander's face turned into a scowl. _"Shit. This isn't good"._ "These men have been abducting people from their homes and running tests on us, they even deliberately infected some of us so they could run tests on this virus". "Now that's crazy sir, do you even have any evidence of this?"

"I do!" Harold screamed out, holding up a folder of documents they took from the lab showing pictures and various files on their tests. He brought Sam and the rest of the people who "left" to show everyone that the staff has been using residents as their guinea pigs.

"This folder here contains pictures and documents on the various tests they've been running on these people. The same people we were told had left. They didn't leave, they were abducted so the staff could experiment on them!"

 _"Goddamnit these people are ruining everything"._ "Alright fine! Yes we've been running tests but that's only so we could understand this virus and find a way to fix everything. Some sacrifices have to made for the good of mankind!" "That's bullshit! you shouldn't be taking people in the dead of night for your experiments!" someone said from within the crowd.

Some of the residents noticed that their friends or family members weren't among the escapees who have revealed themselves. Angered that they were probably dead a few of them rushed out of the crowds towards the guards, who then fired in the air to have people submit out of fear. That didn't work for some of them though and the guards decided to put a couple of them down so the residents knew they meant business.

"Now, now everyone calm down! there's no need to cause a panic". "You can't kill all of us before we get to you!" Someone shouted out from the crowd and ten men rushed out from multiple ends of the crowd. Managing to get a hold of a few of the guards and knocking their weapons on the ground where they were then grabbed by other civilians.

Not wanting to get shot the crowd of people either scattered or helped those who were fighting. Some of the families ran back to their rooms while others decided to take their chances on the outside and left through some of the exit doors, since the main entrance was still heavily guarded. Some made it out while others weren't so lucky. There was a large amount of walkers that had gathered around the shelter. With more being drawn in from the gunfire. One by one the walkers shambled into the shelter and caused even more of a panic.

Harold could tell that with how many exits there were and how many people might've tried to leave that the shelter would be overrun before long. Harold found the Louds and his family, telling them that they needed to wait for an opening and leave, the shelter was going to be crawling with walkers soon.

Lynn Sr. rounded up his family and rushed them up to the rooms to gather their stuff, the McBride's did the same. Everyone quickly packed up their belongings and rushed to the front of the building. "Everyone, in case we get separated we need to have a spot to meet up at, I have a feeling some of us might get lost in the chaos no matter how close we are". "What about our house? If we head back there might not be as many as there would be if we went deeper into town. And besides we all know how to get there". Rita suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Wait! What about Tom, Chris and the others? We can't just leave them here! If it weren't for them we wouldn't have gotten Sam back." Lynn exclaimed. They stopped and looked over to the makeshift jail cells to see Christa already unlocking the doors and letting everyone out. "It looks like they have it handled Lynn, trust me they'll be fine".

Harold assured her. They needed to focus on getting their own family out of here. A few of the group had grabbed some weapons they found on the ground. Lynn found one of the baseball bats the guards let them use, and Harold found a loose pipe laying by their building. Looking over to the guard post Lincoln figured they had to have something over there and had a few of them follow him to check. They found a few security batons, clubs and some various riot gear.

Everyone but Lynn Sr., who had Lily in his arms, Howard, Clyde, Lola and Leni took a weapon. As they got closer to one of the exit doors by their building they found more walkers slowly shambling in through the doorway. Looking around and seeing the same thing by the other doors they could see that they didn't really have much choice. There were a few more residents that joined up by them so they could have a better chance of making it out.

Tom, Chris, and Christa had found them and were ready to get the hell out of there. The group charged towards the group of walkers, trying to take out as many as they could to clear a path for everyone to get out. Christa had gotten bit as they got closer to the door and Tom stayed behind to help her, even if it was already too late. The group were twenty feet away from freedom and the small herd was thinning out as they got closer. Finally making it to the exit, the group were set upon by more walkers that were trying to get inside.

The group started getting separated as they tried to make their way through the crowd. Lynn Sr. lost track of his family when some of the other residents got in his way, he began to panic before finding the McBride family who were with Chris and a few others. "Harold! have you guys seen the others? I can't see Rita or the kids anywhere!" "No Lynn we lost track of them a minute ago! Your family is tough though. I'm sure we'll find them all at the house".

Lynn and the others couldn't make any more progress on the main street and headed into an alleyway, finding that path was blocked on the other side as well. One of the residents tried to go back the other way but was attacked by a walker. With how many were closing in on them they thought they were doomed until Chris saw a fire escape above them. He just needed a boost to reach it.

Harold lifted him up and Chris helped the others make their way up. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time for everyone and a couple of the other residents didn't make it. The group headed up to the roof of the four story building to see if there was a way for them to get out. There were a few more buildings that were the same height as the one they were on and figured they could jump across with each other's help.

The gaps between the buildings were small and they were able to jump between them with relative ease. Lynn had to keep throwing Lily over to Howard before jumping himself, she was laughing each time she was thrown through the air. When they made it to the last building they could jump to they still saw a decent amount of walkers in the alleyway beneath them and decided to hold up and wait for the group to thin out a bit.

It was just the McBride's, Chris, Lynn Sr. and Lily left. Lynn was worried about his family hoping that they all managed to get out of there alright.

* * *

Sam, Ronnie-Anne and the rest of the Loud family had managed to put a good distance between the herd and them. It took them forty minutes before they reached their house, Ronnie was hoping that her mother might've decided to stay here but she was nowhere to be found.

"Alright kids I need you all to take a quick breather and then start gathering up as much food and water as you can. I have a feeling we won't be able to stay here too long without needing to find more supplies".

Everyone sat down as they tried to process what just happened out there. This morning they were going through their normal routine in the shelter and then chaos erupted, forcing them back out with the walkers. Rita figured that since they were out of the shelter their phones might work and she tried to call Howard or Harold since Lynn's phone was broken, but she found that she still didn't have a signal. She figured the cell towers might've gone down at some point in the three weeks since they'd moved into the shelter.

"Mom, did you see where dad went? Maybe we can go out and look for him." Leni asked, worried that her dad might be hurt. "I think we should stay put dear, we agreed to meet up here and if we leave to look for him he might show up here while we're gone". Everyone packed up more supplies and gathered up more clothes and personal items before meeting back in the living room to wait for everyone else.

* * *

"We need to get back to my house! I need to know that my family is okay". "Listen Lynn there's a nice group of hungry walkers down there and if you want to go feed them then be my guest". Chris said, being the nice guy as always. "Chris come one, no need to be an ass like usual" Harold scolded him.

"I think it's best if we wait a few more hours for the herd to disperse more so we have a clear opening to make a break for your house". Howard said. "Your family is going to be fine. Trust me on that". The group waited on the rooftop for five hours before an opening presented itself. The walkers were drawn towards some car alarm in the distance. Using the distraction they made their way out of the alley and back towards the main road, making it to the Loud House in thirty minutes.

Lynn was the first one to run up to the door and he was shocked to see the door kicked in, only being held up by one of it's hinges. He slowly walked into the house and what he saw next scared the hell out of him. There was a dead body in the middle of the room with blood pooled around his head, which had been bashed in. "Oh no..." Lynn started panicking as he searched around the house. Heading into the kitchen he saw the backdoor was open and there was a note attached to the dining table.

 _ **Lynn,**_

 _We had to leave the house, there were these men who tried to steal from us and they were even going to shoot us if we didn't give it up. Everyone is okay, don't worry. We are leaving in case there are others who try to do the same or worse. I'm sure you noticed the body on the floor and well… That was Lincoln who did that. The man was threatening us with a gun, waving it around._

 _When the man grabbed Leni and tried messing with her, that's when Lincoln just lost it and charged him. He whacked the man's leg with his club and hit him across the face. I'm not going into much more detail but let's just say that while he did it to protect us, Lincoln killed that man. And I'm starting to worry about him Lynn, the first time he knocked him down he could've stopped. But he hit him again when he was on the ground, killing him._

 _We are heading towards the outside of the city, it's too dangerous here. We'll set up a camp on the main road outside of town, by the diner that's ten minutes from the "Leaving Royal Woods" sign. You know the one, where we had one of earliest dates. We'll try and wait there for as long as we can. But if it gets too dangerous then I'm going to put the safety of the kids first. I'm sorry but I know you understand... if you see this and we never find each other again. Then please take care of our baby and know that I love you both so, so very much. Please come back to us Lynn. I need you here._

 _ **Yours Always, Rita Loud**._

The letter was discolored towards the bottom, Rita could barely finish it before crying. "Lynn, what happened? Did you find them?" Harold asked. "No, no I didn't but I know where to find them and we need to get there as quick as possible". "But Lynn it's going to be dark in a few hours, we can head out but we need to find a place to spend the night if we don't make it". Howard chimed in.

"But my family is out there and we know where they are, I can't leave them. And if they end up leaving that diner before I get there then I might never find them".

Lynn said as tears started streaming down his face. The thought of not seeing his family again caused him a lot of distress. "Lynn we are going to find your family, no matter what we will bring you back to them". Lynn noticed a backpack lying on the kitchen counter and opened it to find some supplies and a group picture of the entire family. Lynn held it close to his chest as he put it back and pulled the backpack over his shoulder. "Come on Lily-bug let's find our family".

* * *

 **Three hours ago.**

"Mom everything is packed and ready to go for when dad gets here." "Thank you Lori. Can you look after everyone while I head to my room for a minute". Lori knew why she wanted to go in there and she gladly said yes so her mom could have her moment. Rita walked off to her room and locked the door. Sitting down on the side of the bed before breaking down in tears. She sat in there for ten minutes before she heard a loud crash in the other room.

"Everyone stay right where you are!" Rita walked out of her room to see two men pointing guns at her family. "Hey you! get over there" one of the men said to her and she obeyed, walking over to her family and held onto the ones closest to her. "Now here's whats going to happen. You guys are gonna hand over all of your stuff or we'll start shooting one by one. Try anything funny and my friend Mitch here will start shooting".

"O-okay! just don't hurt my family." Rita said as she started gathering up the bags. "Not you. I want her to bring them over here". The man said, pointing to Leni. "M, mom?" "Why her? I can bring you them just the same as anyone else here". Rita questioned. Even though she knew why the man wanted Leni to do it.

"Well it's because I said so and I'm the one holding the gun sooo yeah, get over here". Sighing Rita motioned for her daughter to hand the supplies over, she just hoped they would let her go after she did. Leni slowly walked over to the two men as they both had devilish smirks across their faces.

Once she dropped the bags in front of them she tried to turn and walk away but one of the men grabbed her and pulled her close. "H, hey let me go!" "Get off of her! You got the supplies so just leave please". Rita said. "Well no I think we're gonna take this little cutie with us, we could use the company".

Lincoln was starting to boil with rage, feeling the same way he did when he took care of Luan. When he saw the first man start groping his older sister, something inside him snapped and he screamed as he charged both men. He jumped over the sofa and kicked Mitch in the chest while he was distracted by his partner messing with Leni. Lincoln's kick caused Mitch to stumble back before Lincoln took his club and smacked the guy who had Leni in the kneecap. He heard something pop as the man screamed in pain.

Leni ran back to her family as Lincoln whacked the man across the side of his head, causing a gash to his left temple. As the man fell Lincoln brought the club up again and slammed it down on his head. Mitch had recovered and aimed to shoot Lincoln when Lynn Jr. and Lori rushed him, knocking him against the wall and throwing the gun away. The man shoved them off before running outside.

Lincoln picked up the first guy's gun and tried running outside to shoot him, until Lori held him back. "Lincoln stop! he's gone and he can't hurt any of us now. It's over". It took a minute but Lincoln had calmed down and dropped the gun to the floor. Rita walked over to him and held him close as Lori picked up both of the guns, storing them in her backpack because she knew they'd unfortunately need them again. "It's alright dear, it's over you protected us and you more importantly you saved Leni".

He could still feel the anger inside him but once Leni ran up to him and lifted him into a tight hug all of that melted away. "Oh my god! Lincy I was so scared! Like thank you so, so much!" she swung him back and forth as she held him into a tight bear hug. "I, it's no, no p-problem Leni but could you plea-please let me go. I can't breath". Leni gently set him back down as she said sorry.

"Mom what should we do now? What if more of those guys come back? I think the town is too dangerous with the way things are now". Lori said as she hoped her mom would know what to do. "I, I uh think you're right honey. I didn't think it would be this bad out here already. We should get out of town, I have a feeling this isn't going to end as quickly as we hoped. Let me just write Lynn a note and we'll head out".

Lincoln just absentmindedly stared at the man he hit, the first thing he noticed was that the man wasn't breathing. _"Did, did I just kill someone? I, I did it to save Leni though so it's okay right? I was defending her so it's fine... right?"._ Lucy noticed Lincoln's dead stare at the man on the floor and after looking for a minute herself she understood why, Lincoln had just killed that man. A minute later Lincoln started shaking and he held his stomach as he hunched over and threw up.

He fell to his knees as he started breathing heavy, he just killed someone and even though he was just helping Leni that still didn't change the fact that he killed that man and he's only eleven years old. "Lincoln!" His sisters ran over to him to make sure he was alright. "I think our brother is having some adverse reaction to his actions in saving our sister from that man. And by the looks of him it's because he's, he's dead". When Lisa finished that sentence Lincoln thew up again.

"Listen dude, yeah you just, just killed that guy but you were just trying to save Leni and you didn't try to kill him on purpose, just get him away from her. So don't feel like you are some murderer or something. He was going to take Leni away from us and maybe even still kill all of us anyway. So don't you dare feel like you did anything wrong bro". Luna stated, hoping that would make him feel at least a little better. "B, but I, he, he's de-"

"It doesn't matter Lincoln! None of us could even move when they were threatening us but you, you just charged in there to save our sister without a second thought. You were badass and if it wasn't for you then who knows what would've happened. You're our hero and that's the simple fact about all this". Lynn added.

Still shaking, Lincoln was starting to calm down a bit and his sisters pulled him into a group hug, slowly easing his troubled mind. Breaking away from the hug, Lincoln wiped his nose and eyes as he got up and thanked his sisters for their words.

Rita walked back into the Living room, wiping her eyes after writing that letter for her husband. She hoped to god that he would find it and in turn, find them. "Is, is everyone alright?" She asked noticing that everyone was gathered around Lincoln as he was wiping his eyes. Everyone nodded in response. They were as okay as could be expected, trying to stay strong for their mom.

"Okay so we are going to this diner that's a little ways out of Royal Woods, it's not really safe for us to stay here anymore, especially after all that. Your father knows the diner I mentioned in the letter and I hope he'll meet us there as soon as he can".

* * *

Carefully making their way through the town, avoiding the dead and the living alike, the family made it to the diner in three hours. There were no cars and the lights in the diner were off, it looked like there was no one there. Breaking the glass on the front door to unlock it they headed inside and set up their little camp to wait for Lynn and hopefully the McBride's as well.

Lincoln quietly slipped away from his family as he found the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He turned the sink on, glad that the water still ran in this place, before leaning his back against a wall and sliding down to the floor, not caring how dirty it was. He held his face in his hands as he started crying, still not over the fact that he just killed someone.

 _ **"What's a matter boy? So you killed someone. Big deal."**_ "Wh-what?" Lincoln was startled by the sudden voice in the room. He looked around but there was no one there. _**"Wrong-o Lincoln I'm not anywhere out there. I'm in here."** "Are, are you in my head?" **"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. So you killed someone, who cares? You were saving that hot sister of yours".** "What's going on? Who are you?" _

_**"I** **sn't it obvious? I'm you. well, a part of you I should say".**_

 _"Am I going crazy? I'm talking to a voice inside my head". **"N** **ow come on Lincoln, we all go a little mad sometimes, hahahahaha".**_ Lincoln's conversation with himself was interrupted when he heard a knock at the door. "Hey Lincoln are you alright? I thought I heard you talking to someone". Lucy asked from the other side of the locked door. "Y, yeah Lucy. I just you know had to use the bathroom. it's been a long day". Lincoln lied to her, not wanting to worry his family anymore than they probably already were.

Lucy looked down in defeat. She knew her brother wasn't doing good, Lucy couldn't imagine what was going through his head right now and she wanted to help him, but if he wouldn't let her in then there wasn't much she could do.

Walking back over to her family, she suggested that they all keep an eye on Lincoln. She felt like he was still holding more pain inside his heart and he just didn't want them to know it.

* * *

Lynn's group walked out of the house and started making their way towards the end of town. Trying to hurry before the night set in. "so uh Lynn, did Rita say what happened back there? When I saw the body on the floor I assumed the worst". Lynn hesitated before answering his question. "Uh apparently two men had stormed into the house and tried to steal from my family... And it sounded like they were going to take Leni with them..." "Oh lord. Tell me they didn't"

"No they didn't...but that was mainly because Lincoln attacked them and killed that man back there. I, I still don't know what to think about that, he saved everyone but I'm worried about my son. He killed someone and he's just a kid! He shouldn't of even had to do that. I should've been there!"

They weren't able to make much progress as they moved through town, there were too many walkers that kept blocking their path. The group had to duck into a nearby motel to hide from the small herd that had blocked the path they were on. "Alright listen Lynn, I know you don't want to hear this but there's too many of them out there and I think we should lay low in here for the night. Trust me when I say your family is going to be fine".

Lynn hated to admit it but his friend had a point. And he wouldn't make it on his own out there, especially with Lily in his arms. "Fine!… I get it". They settled down for the night, trying to get some sleep while a couple of them took shifts to be on the lookout for any walkers or other people getting too close. "Um dad, did I hear Mr. Loud correctly earlier? Did Lincoln really kill someone?" "Yes Clyde, but he did it to protect his family and Even though I hate it just as much as Lynn, I'm proud of him for taking care of them". Clyde couldn't believe his best bud actually killed someone, he wanted to find him to make sure Lincoln was alright.

The group woke up early in the morning and saw that the walkers outside had thinned out a bit and figured now was their chance to get out of there. They ran through the rest of the town, trying to get to the outskirts of Royal Woods as quickly and safely as possible. Only having to fight when they needed to.

At one point the group had been surrounded by walkers and they had to fight their way out. There were too many and one was about to get Lynn until it's head was blown off by a shot from the distance. More shots soon followed and the group was able to make a break for it. Harold looked back to see someone on top of a roof holding a rifle. The man tipped his hat to the group as he disappeared from their line of sight.

Finding a spot to take a breather Lynn asked who the hell that was up there. "I don't know Lynn, he just simply tipped his hat at us as we ran off. I don't know who he was but if I ever see him again I'm thanking him as much as I can. We owe that guy our life".

It was another Hour before the group made it to the diner, and Lynn couldn't believe what he was seeing. The Diner was surrounded by walkers and his heart dropped.

* * *

The Loud's got settled in and tried to get some sleep. Rita knew that they might not be safe there and decided to keep an eye out while the kids slept. Lincoln was lying in one of the booths by himself, telling everyone he just wanted to be alone for now.

 _The man had grabbed Leni while his partner was still pointing the gun at everyone. Lincoln tightened his grip on the club as he prepared to charge them. "Alright Mitch we're leaving now, take care of the others". "No! Rita shouted out before a shot rang out and her eldest was hit. "nnooooo!" Leni screamed as she watched her sister's body fall to the floor. "You bastard!" Lincoln shouted out before the man fired into the rest of the group._

 _Managing to kill two more of them before Lincoln had the chance to reach the men. Lincoln kicked Mitch in the stomach, but unlike before he didn't stumble back. He picked Lincoln up and threw him off to the side before firing back at his family. "Please stop it!" he shouted. Mitch just turned the gun towards him and fired._

Lincoln shot up in the makeshift bed he made in the booth, covered in sweat.

Lincoln took in his surroundings as he noticed he wasn't in his house with those murderous bastards who were killing his family. He was safe in the diner, and more importantly, so was his family. His breathing started returning to normal as he tried to calm his racing heart. He walked out of the both and quietly checked in on everyone. They stuck to the same sleeping arrangements they had in their home. Lynn and Lucy shared a booth, Leni and Lori, Lola and Lana. Outside of the usual sleeping partners, Lisa laid in a booth next to her mother, Ronnie-Anne and Lincoln took their own booths. And Luna, not having the company of her comedic sister anymore, shared her booth with Sam.

Lincoln walked over to his mother, who was still keeping watch. "H, hey mom. Everything still clear out there?" "Honey what are you doing up? I want you kids to get some rest considering… the day we've had. Is everything alright?" Rita asked with a cautious and concerned tone, while trying to keep quiet so they didn't wake Lisa. She could tell her son was still hiding his feelings inside. _"J_ _udging by the fact that he's up, and the look on his face, I assume that he either hasn't gone to sleep… or had a nightmare"._

"Y, yeah Mom I'm fine I just couldn't sleep is all, but I'm good. Trust me". _"_ _I hate to lie to you mom but I really don't want to talk about it so just drop it"._ "Okay dear I just worry about you is all".

Lincoln knew he wasn't going back to sleep and looking to the watch he found back at the shelter, it was one in the morning. He knew what his mom was going to say but he decided to ask her anyway. "Hey mom, I'm most likely not going to be able to get back to sleep. Why don't you let me take over and get at least a few hours of sleep yourself?"

"Oh honey it's fine. How do you think I handled taking car of all you? I got used to long nights with little sleep". His mom said with a smile. "Come on mom, just for a couple hours then. I'll be fine and I don't want you to have to go all of today and tomorrow without sleep".

Rita contemplated what her son was asking her, she knew he was right about her needing sleep for tomorrow, but she still worried about him in more ways than one. She knew he was a tough kid but everyone has their limits and she felt like Lincoln's was really being tested. "Sigh* alright Lincoln. But keep a close eye out, not just for your father but for any of those monsters. and anyone else who might show up".

"Thanks mom, now get some sleep. I got this". "I know dear".

Not too long after his mother fell asleep, Lincoln heard the faint sounds of an engine. It sounded like it was getting closer and Lincoln was starting to get worried, if it wasn't his father, and they stopped here… he didn't want to continue that thought. Lincoln looked out to the road just as the car came speeding across it, luckily it sped on down the road. But then Lincoln still heard the loud noise of an engine nearby and looked back at the other end of the road to see two trucks racing after the car.

Some guy leaned out of the first truck and fired a rifle at the car. At this point the rest of the group shot out of their seats at the sound of the gunshot. "Lincoln! What was that!?" His mom shouted. "There was a car that sped past the diner and it was being followed by two trucks. Some guy in the first one started shooting at the car!" As soon as he finished that sentence, they heard more gunfire and the screeching sounds of tires in the distance.

"You don't think they're coming back do you?" Lana frighteningly asked, not wanting a repeat of earlier. "I don't know sweetie, but whatever happens next everything's gonna be fine. I promise". The family heard another gunshot ring out in the distance and hoped that the men were heading in the direction when they were finished with whatever they were doing.

* * *

"sonuvabitch thought he could run from us. We showed him". The leader of the group stated. He then commanded his men to loot the victim's car and then they'd check the diner the past for more supplies before heading further down the road. Once they were done looting the corpse and car of their target they piled back into the two trucks, turning back to the diner.

The family saw the headlights light up the road from the direction the vehicles went and feared the worst. "No! We can't do this again. Lynn still isn't here and I don't know if we'll find him heading back into town". At this point Sam had suddenly collapsed behind Luna. "Sam!" Luna knelt down to her and could see the sweat running down her face, holding a hand up to her forehead, Luna saw that Sam had a fever.

"Nonono not now!" Sam was unconscious, he breaths shallow. The men from earlier had made it back to the diner and parked close to the side of the building. "Shit! Mom we need to do something and I think it's best if we leave". Lori said. Rita thought about their options. They could hide nearby and wait for the men to leave, they could try heading back to town and maybe, at best, find Lynn. The other option she didn't even want to consider: fighting back.

"Kids quickly grab your stuff and start heading out the back. We can't stay here". The group heard the truck doors slam closed out front and knew they needed to hurry, they only had a minute to leave before being spotted.

"Alright ass hats you know the drill, search through every nook and cranny in this place and put all the shit in the back of the trucks. Danny you head around back while the rest of us head in through the front".

Back inside Lynn helped Luna put Sam on her back and Luna started carrying her to the back while Lynn grabbed her and Luna's stuff. Everyone quickly gathered up their bags and rushed to the kitchen to go through the backdoor. Lori was the first one through and found Danny just as he made it to the door. "Oh shit! Hey Bil-" he tried to shout out to his group but was whacked on the side of his head by Lori, swinging one of her golf clubs.

Lynn picked up the guys rifle and the group started running into the woods behind the diner, trying to put as much distance between them and the truckers as possible. "Stick close everyone!" Rita shouted to the kids as they ran in a big group through the woods, trying to find another off road or path to take them out of the area.

* * *

They ran for fifteen minutes before taking a breather in a small clearing halfway into the woods. "Huff, huff… I think, huff, we're good". Lori said literally hoping they were out of the woods. No pun intended. After resting for a few minutes the group tried to figure out their next course of action. After running so far from the diner they had no idea where they were in relation to Royal Woods. Luna had set Sam down next to a tree as she rested herself.

Rita slowly slid her hands down her face as she tried to think, Lynn was going to be heading to that diner and she was worried about those men being there when he did, but she couldn't take her kids back their based on that same thought. She didn't know what direction to head in to get back to Royal Woods. She told Lynn she would put the safety of the kids first but now she didn't want to make that choice, she couldn't just leave Lynn but she also couldn't bring her kids back to that place if those men were still going to be there.

"kids… I'm not sure which direction home is and I don't want to bring you guys back to that diner, but I also don't know where else to go…" Rita took a breath as she figured out their next move. "Ok we're going to pick a direction and keep going until we find some type of road, then we'll try following it back to Royal woods if we can. Your father is hopefully still there, maybe he hasn't reached the house yet and hasn't seen the note". Rita continued. "So that means that father still doesn't know where to go and we might get lucky and find him back home?" Lisa questioned.

"I hope so dear… alright kids let's get a move on". Luna knelt back down to pick Sam up but noticed that she wasn't breathing. "No… no. come on Sam. Wake up." "Luna?" Everyone looked back at her to see her holding onto Sam's shoulders and shaking her body back and forth. "Come on… don't leave me yet. There hasn't been enough time!" Sam's body twitched and Luna's breath hitched. _"No… nonono she can't. I can't. I don't want to see her like that"._

A low growling came from Sam's mouth as she slowly raised her head up and opened her glassed over eyes to meet Luna's. "Sam?" Sam immediately lunged forward, pushing Luna down to the ground and trying to chomp into her flesh. "Aaaahhhh" Luna screamed as she tried to get what used to be her girlfriend off of her. Lynn ran over to them and tackled Sam to the ground away from Luna, grabbing her baseball and lifting it over her head. Hesitating for one second, Lynn brought the bat down when Sam tried to reach up to her.

Luna cried out as Lynn bashed Sam's head in with her bat. She ran over to them and shoved Lynn of of Sam's corpse, kneeling down next to it as she cried over her dead lover. Lynn was about to get mad at her sister but when she saw Luna crying over Sam's corpse, all of that disappeared.

The rest of the family just stood off to the side in silence as they watched Luna mourn Sam, themselves starting to do the same. Another ten minutes had passed before Luna stood up and asked "Does anyone have a shovel?" she quietly asked. Lana immediately pulled off her backpack and pulled out a small telescoping spade she had. "Thanks little dude". Luna calmly said as she sulked over to Sam and started digging into the earth.

The rest of her siblings joined in and helped her dig out a grave, even Lola helped. Not worrying about getting as dirty as Lana is on a normal basis. After finishing the grave some of the family said a quick word about the girl. "Thank you Sam for bringing such joy to my daughter. I was, am glad that you two found each other, I just wish things didn't turn out like this". Rita said.

"I was always happy when you came over because even tough you mainly came over to spend time with her, you made sure to spend some time with each of us as well. We created some awesome jam sessions between you, Luna and me". Lincoln commented. Everyone else gave a quick word in mourning before Luna walked up to the grave.

"Sam. I, I'm going to miss you so much, hell I already do Luv. You were such a rockin girl and I couldn't believe I was lucky enough to find someone like you in this world. You helped complete a part of me I didn't even know I needed to be filled..." Luna paused. "I'm going to cherish all the times we shared and remember how much of an awesome pair we made. I hope… I hope that wherever you are now that you know I love you so much and I'll do my best to move on like you asked".

After a few more minutes the group walked off, being sure to mark the grave in case they were able to make it back here.

* * *

 **Thirty minutes ago, diner**

"Danny? Danny where the hell are you?" Danny slowly regained consciousness behind the diner. Rubbing the back of his head, Danny tried to remember what the hell just happened. Billy, the groups leader, opened the door to the back and found Danny sitting on the ground rubbing the back of his head. "What the hell happened to you?"

Danny looked back up at him and everything started coming back to him. "… so yeah boss they were here and clocked me in the head before running off". "Shit… well we'll try and find them later, it's late and I want to get some sleep before heading back out. This diner's as good a place as any to rest up".

Danny followed Bill back inside as the rest of the group gathered the supplies they found by the front door. "Alright boys, it looks like there was a group here and they left as soon as we showed up. Got Danny here on their way out. We're gonna stay here for the night and head out tomorrow, see if we can pick up a trail and hunt them down". The group settled in for the night, no one keeping on lookout. None of them heard the bell on the front door jingle and no one awoke in time for a walker to get Danny In his sleep.

As soon as the walker bit into his neck Danny awoke in shock and screamed out, trying to shove the walker away. He successfully pushed it back as it took a small chunk out of his neck and stumbled back. Danny grabbed his pistol and fired three times at the walker, hitting it in the head three times for good measure and out of anger.

"What the fuck just happened?" Holding a hand to his neck Danny replied. "Walker got in, took a chunk outta my neck before I could get him". "Shit" Billy said in a tone that didn't hold much sadness in it. "Welp" he said before pulling out his gun and blasting Danny in the head. "Jesus Bill, you could've at least had some bedside manners before shooting him". "Aw shut up Jim".

The three men in the group just stood there in silence as the stared at Danny's corpse. "Dibs on his stuff!" Ryan shouted. "Wow real caring friend you are" Jim sarcastically said.

They were so wrapped up in their little moment that they didn't notice the large group of walkers stalking up to the front door. As soon as the first one entered they all turned and their faces turned pale. "Grab your damn guns!" Bill commanded.

They started opening fire on the ones coming in from the door, pullets tearing through the glass and walking corpses. More started to push In through the front and the gang decided to call it quits and run out the back. Bill was the first one through the door and was met by three walkers close to the back entrance. Ryan followed him right out and Bill shoved him into the trio of walkers as a distraction.

"Seriously Bill!?" Jim shouted out in disgust while Ryan screamed out in pain as the walkers started enjoying their new dinner. "Shut the hell up and be glad I'm not doing the same to you!". The two rushed back to the trucks and peeled out of the parking lot. A few of the walkers limping after them as the rest stumbled inside the diner to eat Danny's corpse. The gunfire drawing more walkers to the diner.

* * *

"No… NO! Rita! Kids!" Lynn shouted as he rushed towards the diner. He had Clyde hold Lily as he ran towards the thinned out group of walkers stalking around the front of the diner and trudging around inside. Lifting the fireplace poker he found on their way here, he started killing the walkers one by one as Chris and Harold joined in. Clearing out the walkers Lynn looked inside to see if there was any trace of his family left.

He worriedly checked the bathrooms and the kitchen in the back but found no one. The only person they found was Danny's corpse. "Look Lynn they aren't here, that means they got out safely. I'm su-" "Don't tell me what you're damn sure of Harold! My family isn't here and I have no idea where they could've gone! You don't know they're safe and, and..." Lynn fell to his knees as he broke into tears.

Harold hated to see his friend like this. And he was right, they had no idea where the Loud family was or if any of them were hurt. But that didn't mean they were gonna give up. "Listen Lynn you're right I don't know whether they're safe or where they went but we are going to find them. I promise you that, we are going to help you find the rest of OUR family, alright?"

Lynn was surprised that Harold said "our" family. He had to admit all of them were pretty much family at this point. "Th-thanks Harold… Let's look around a bit and then we'll try to find out a way to go". Without any leads they started walking along the main road outside of town to the next town, neighborhood or any point of interest their family might have went to.

* * *

On the other side of the forest the Loud family was walking along a stretch of dirt road. It led them to a park and they walked around trying to find anyone or supplies or anything they could use. They found a map by one of the ranger stations and it contained not just a map of the park area, but most of the surrounding roads and nearby towns. "Alright so it looks like if we take this road here and follow it south then we can find our way back home… is that where you guys think we should go?" Rita asked, wanting to take her children's opinions into account.

Everyone wanted to find Lynn and the others but knew how dangerous it was to head back to Royal Woods, the populated areas had the most walkers and last time they were there it was difficult for them to get out.

"I, I don't think dad is going to be back there unfortunately, by now he must've seen the note you left and he may have already found and left the diner". Lori stated. "Our eldest sister does have a point mother, the probability of our father unit still being in town is minimal". Lisa added. "But guys what if he's still back there, he maybe even needs our help. We can't just go somewhere else, what if he can't find us!?" Lana shouted.

Everyone started talking over each other, their voices drowning every one of their opinions out. Their shouting was drawing the attention of nearby walkers and they stopped their bickering to start taking care of them.

"Huff, huff, alright kids I, I think it's best if we head away from Royal Woods… I hate to leave and possibly increase the chances of not finding your father, but I believe that everything is going to workout". "What if we leave him another note? Like there's two maps here, just mark one with where we're going". Leni suggested. "Huh, that's a good idea Leni".

Rita took the map and marked some small town labeled "West Falls". Judging by the size on the map, it looked like the town was just some small place passerby's go through on vacation trips.

She stuck the map to a pole by the ranger's station and the group started making their way to the small town themselves. _"P_ _lease Lynn, I don't want to do this without you and Lily. I need you two here. Get your ass there as soon as possible"._

* * *

 **And that was the last flashback for this story. So question. Do you guys feel like some of the reasons I made for the two groups continuing to be separated are forced? Cause I kind of felt like one or two of these might've been a stretch. So if they feel the same to you guys let me know. I'm slowly realizing the meat between the outlines I have seems thin once I get about halfway or more into a chapter. So I try to find ways to fill it in with more details or situations.**

 **Anyways, in the next and last chapter for this part, we dive back into the present as Lincoln and Richard start their hunt for Lincoln's family. They have a road ahead of them, how long that road may be is the question. As always, reviews and comments are welcome, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and see you next time.**


	8. Following The Trail

**Hello readers. I bring you the final chapter in Finding Who Was Lost. In this chapter Lincoln and Richard finally set off on their journey to find Lincoln's family. I hope you all enjoy and be sure to leave a comment or review below.**

 **disclaimer: I own nothing from the Loud House**

* * *

 **Following The Trail**

 **Present day.**

It had been three days at the bunker before Lincoln and Richard started their long trek to search for Linc's family. Over the course of those three days, bonds were created over shared interests, secrets were revealed, and both had started the healing process for their respective emotional turmoils.

"So Lincoln. You ready? We probably won't be coming back here for a long time so we can search longer. The outposts out there should help us replenish supplies if we need them". Lincoln nodded in response. Ready to get out there and be reunited with his family. Both started gathering enough supplies for the both of them, Lincoln took his own rucksack, which was a bit smaller than Rich's so he could manage the weight.

Lincoln was hoping that they left him some kind of note like his mother left his father back home. Rich then said something that Lincoln hadn't even thought was a possibility in a long time. "Hey man we might even run into your dad out there. Oh better yet he could be with your family, that way we kill two birds with one stone".

Lincoln realized he hadn't even thought about seeing his dad or Lily again for a long time. After over six months of nothing he figured it was a lost cause and that as much as he would love to see his dad and baby sister again, it wasn't going to happen. But now it seemed like Richard's hopeful outlook might've been rubbing off on him, because some small amount of hope started finding it's way back into Lincoln's head.

"So I've given some thought on things since that chat we had the other night. And I realized that I need to change some things before we go back out there. Follow me".

Rich led Lincoln into his room and Rich opened his closet to pull out a couple things that made Lincoln look on in surprise. Rich had a bo staff in one hand and two Sai in his other. "yeah I took karate in late elementary school through middle school, got these bad boys while I was there".

Lincoln stared at the two weapons Rich had in his hands and asked if he could try them out. Rich handed him the sai and Lincoln started fooling around with them. "Why don't ya keep em, They aren't doing no good sitting in here, neither is my bo, which is why I'm taking it with us".

"Dude think about it, we're like half the ninja turtles!" Rich said, causing Lincoln and him to burst out in laughter.

Richard returned to the closet as he hung up his duster, deciding to retire his signature look in favor of something new. He changed his shirt to a simple white shirt with a faded red and black flannel over it. Lincoln noticed something on Rich's arm before he put the flannel on and asked what it was.

"Oh this?" Richard lifted up his sleeve to show Lincoln the tattoo on his arm. The tattoo looked like an army patch, it was a skull in a circle with "Outer Heaven" written above it and wings on the sides. "It's the logo for a fictional military group, from that game series Metal Gear. One of my top five series". And then showed him the tattoo on his chest. "Why a semi-colon?" Lincoln asked with a raised eyebrow. "It has a few different meanings but the one that made me get it deals with Suicide, and how I was pretty much at that point but chose to move past it and head forward".

Richard sniffled as he remembered how he even found out about the meaning himself. It was because of his sister, he felt like she was the one who worried the most about his mental issues and suicidal ideation when he filled his family in about his problems.

"Now instead of just outright killing the types of people I usually do, I'm going to try and knock them out using this". Lincoln looked at him with a face that had "really" written all over it. "yes I'm copying Morgan from walking dead, sue me haha". "nerd" Lincoln retorted. "right back at ya buddy".

* * *

After finishing their preparations, the two of them left the bunker and locked it before heading out to find the camp. It took them half the day but they eventually found it. There were still two tents that were set up and littered with tears and bullet holes. Lincoln shuttered at the sight.

"oh my god...". They found a few bodies around the camp site and hoped they were Jim's men. After looking over the bodies their assumptions were confirmed, causing Lincoln to sigh heavily in relief.

The two of them spread out to search the campsite for any information or clues. Lincoln walked over to the tent that he and Ronnie-Anne had shared. He looked inside to find that his backpack was still there and it had an envelope attached to the front. His eyes widened and filled with hope as he saw "Lincoln" written on the back.

Richard was on the other side of the camp and found something that caused him to worry. There was a fair amount of blood on a tree trunk and some pooled at the base of it. What cause him to worry was the fact that none of Jim's men were close to it, he hoped it wasn't any member of the Loud family and decided it was best to not tell Lincoln about it.

Lincoln opened the envelope and took the contents inside. There was a letter and a map with a location marked on it. _"yes! hopefully they're still there"._

He then turned his attention to the letter and began reading it.

 _Lincoln,_

 _I hope you're alright and that you find this letter. We are going to try and find you but if we don't then I hope you escaped and found this. As you can see on that map we are going to the town, north of here. I'm hoping we find you out there but if you're reading this then that means we didn't. And I'm so sorry for that._

 _I'm sorry we couldn't save you before and after those men took you. I just hope that you got away before they could hurt you, I can't imagine another one of my babies being hurt. Before you worry everyone else is fine. We beat the rest of those bastards who attacked._

 _We are going to stay in this town for as long as we can and if we need to move on then we'll leave a note telling you where to go next. The thought of you alone out here worries me to no end but You're a tough kid and I know we'll see you soon. We Love you so much Lincoln._

Lincoln had started tearing up as he finished the letter. Folding it back up, Lincoln wiped his eyes and looked at the map to see where they went. The town was maybe a couple days away from the camp. And with the time it took him and Rich to get here they were probably best heading to the town Jim and them were at to rest for the night. Lincoln opened the backpack up to find all his stuff was still there, except for a couple of his comics and the mp3 player Luna found for him. He figured they took them for sentimental reasons.

Lincoln found the thing he was looking for the most though and found it back at the bottom of the pack. He might've been a little too old for it now but he had to admit that having bun-bun with him gave him a sense of comfort, and he could use that now.

Lincoln met up with Rich and showed him the map, telling him that they probably left already given the fact that its been three weeks but that they'd leave a note for him there as well. Rich didn't tell him about the blood he found and told him what Lincoln already figured, that they should head back to the town they met at.

Lincoln agreed even though he wanted to find them as soon as possible, he knew it'd be too dangerous to look for them in the dark.

They made it to the town while the sun was starting to set and decided to check some of the few buildings that hadn't been looted yet. They found a few walkers in each building and took them out, Lincoln was making good use out of the sai that Rich had given him. Rich had found a nice use for his bo as he would use it to sweep the legs of the walkers and stab them with his knife before they could get up.

After grabbing some more supplies they headed up to the outpost they made earlier in the week and rested up again.

* * *

They got up at the crack of dawn and got ready to head out again. As they walked through the town and searched a few more buildings they were stopped in their tracks by a group of four people. Two of them had their guns raised at the pair and they held up their hands.

"Listen here guys we don't want any trouble and I'm sure your kid there doesn't want to see any more violence in this world than he has to". Richard had assumed the group was a family, their was an older woman and some guy who both looked like they were in their early forties or late thirties. They had two kids, an older boy who looked like he could've been early twenties at least, and a younger one who looked to be around ten.

"Just hand over your stuff and there won't be any trouble". The father said as his wife held their youngest close. "Well how about we compromise? Me and the kid here can split half of the stuff in each of our rucksacks here, we need stuff too my friend and there's plenty to go around".

"Just listen to him John, there's no need to fight if we don't have to". His wife pleaded. The dad and oldest son slowly, and cautiously lowered their guns as Richard and Lincoln took their bags off. "Your kid looks a little sick, what's wrong?"

"He's caught a fever and has been coughing a lot today".

"Well then it's your lucky day I got the perfect thing for him". Richard pulled out a bottle of cough medicine and ibuprofen. He opened the Ibuprofen up and took out about half of what was in the bottle. "There ya go, take two of these and call us in the morning haha". The father put his gun away and thanked him as Rich and Lincoln took out a few more supplies such as food and drinks, they even spared a few more medical supplies.

"Now all of this doesn't come free you know..." Rich started. As he sounded like he was about to have some catch for the supplies, and Lincoln looked at him with confusion and concern. Rich put a smile on his face before continuing. "I simply ask that you pay it forward, help someone else down the line you know?" The father smiled back as he nodded.

"Oh before I forget, we made a little outpost further in the town, take a left a few streets down and it should be the third building on your right. On the rooftop". "Th-thank you! How can I repay you?" Rich just held up his hand as he repeated his earlier request.

The mother hugged Rich and Lincoln as she thanked them, their children did the same before they headed off further into town.

"See Lincoln. didn't that feel good?" "yeah but not everyone out here is going to be like that Rich, what about when we run into those people?" Richard thought back to all the times he came across people like that and how most of them didn't take his offer to leave peacefully. Richard shot them without a second thought, not giving them the chance to do anything after their initial decision.

"well we'll do our best not to kill them if they don't walk away". They continued down the main road outside of town and tried to find a good resting place since the meeting spot was still another day away at least. Once night had started to set in they found a few houses off to the side of the road they were on. They picked one of the two story houses and cleared out the walkers occupying it before getting their temporary home set up.

After making sure nothing could get through the two doors on the bottom floor they both headed upstairs to the two bedrooms. Richard laid in bed as he tried to fall asleep. He always had trouble falling asleep when it was dead silent so he turned a playlist on his phone that would last for an hour so he could sleep without draining the battery a lot.

 _ **"So Rich my guy...don't lie to me on this. You though**_ _ **t**_ _ **that kid back there was hot right?".**_ Richard sighed as he rolled over to his side on the bed as he tried to think about something else. Trying to lose himself in the music. _**"**_ _ **come oooonnn Richard I know what you're thinkin about and I know how you're feeling right now, you haven't really felt like this in a while have you? like a month maybe".**_

Richard knew what that voice meant but he couldn't, for some reason doing "that" didn't feel right like it used to. In the early days when he found out about his attraction he tried to either just stick to "normal" porn or stop masturbating all together. Sometimes that worked and he went by without having one of those thought pop into his head, but they always came back and he realized this wasn't something that was going to go away.

He always flip flopped on whether he hated himself when he had the fantasies or just accepted it all. After a few years he stopped beating himself over every single fantasy and they didn't bother him as much, just every now and then. But now, now he started having those feelings. Those feelings of shame, anger, and sadness over what he wanted to do.

He knew he was just a man and that he couldn't change who and what he was, but he still needed some type of release or distraction to keep that beast at bay. That's never been an issue for him, he knew there was a part of him that wanted to do those things but his will and moral compass were too strong to ever let that happen.

But that didn't mean he still didn't hate that there was a part of him like that.

Richard just sighed in frustration as he pulled his night pants down, taking his cock in hand as his thoughts went to that kid. Imagining what it would feel like to have the boy beneath his own body. As he continued, his excitement started growing, he tried to keep his fantasies as if the kids were "consenting". Even though he knew there was no way a kid could ever consent to any of that even if they said they wanted it. Richard never once thought that age of consent should be lowered or anything like that to make it "legal". Contact like that should never happen.

Richard was beginning to lose himself as he inched ever closer to that climax he was wanting. He hadn't done this in so long that it wasn't taking him long to reach that point. As he was close and lost in the fantasy he didn't even hear the door slowly creak open.

* * *

Down the hall, Lincoln was trying to sleep himself but his thoughts wouldn't let him get off so easy. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Jim staring back at him, before leaning down and locking his lips with Lincoln's own. Lincoln tried to block the thoughts out but they kept assaulting him. The phantom feeling of Jim's hands violating every part of his body. Nearly everyday they used him in various ways, abused him and beat him when he refused or fought back. After the first week those beatings happened less and less as Lincoln's will to fight dissipated. Sometimes those "sessions" lasted hours, a couple times even stretching out for almost half the day as most of them joined in. His eyes welled up with tears as he remembered almost every painful day with them.

He tried to think positively, he wasn't there anymore and he'd never be back there, they were all dead. Richard's words crept into his head as those negative thoughts and memories began to fade away. _"you're safe, they are all dead and no one is ever going to hurt you like that again"._ Lincoln sat up in bed as he wiped his eyes and brought his thoughts back to his family.

He found that doing this could bring him back from that pit of despair and calm his mind. He thought about all of them before this apocalypse and how things might be after he found them. Those thoughts now even included his dad and Lily as well as his best friend Clyde and his dads.

Lincoln chuckled to himself as he thought about times they might share together after this. He thought about the future, and his future with… Ronnie-Anne. He hoped that she was doing alright and that she was happy with his crazy family. He could still remember that night before he was taken, laying in the tent he shared with her. They looked into each others eyes as they talked about their future and the possibilities of their lives. When Ronnie brought up the subject of kids Lincoln blushed a bit.

 _"Ronnie_ _we're twelve! We shouldn't even be thinking about having kids till we're like twenty or something". "_ _O_ _h calm down Lame-o. hehe, I'm not saying we should start trying now dummy, I'm just thinking about the future ya know. A girl can dream,_ _these days more than ever_ _"._

He thought about that conversation as they talked more about how things might turn out. And how they'd find somewhere they could live out the rest of their lives without worry of walkers or killers. Their conversation was cut short when Jim's group attacked and took Lincoln, Jim told him they tried to take some of the others but none of his men made it back. Lincoln was glad that his family was able to fight off the rest of them.

Lincoln figured he could use a conversation to distract the bad memories from creeping back up and hoping that maybe it would tire him out. He got up and walked to Richard's room to see if he was up. If he wasn't then he'd feel bad about waking Rich up for some idle chat, especially since small talk wasn't one of Richard's strong suits.

He didn't want to knock and wake him up so he slowly opened the door to see if Rich was up. He wished he would've knocked.

As Richard was about to climax the door opened and Lincoln could see the bed lit up by the moonlight shining through the window. He saw Richard and his cheeks flushed as he gasped. Richard was snapped out of his thoughts as he heard Lincoln and immediately threw the blanket over himself, screaming as Lincoln turned to get out. Lincoln quickly ran out of the room, shouting out "sorry!" before shutting the door on the way out and heading back to his room.

Richard just laid there as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. His cheeks were now flushed for two reasons and he pondered if he should try and talk to him or not. _**"**_ _ **Oh this is just hysterical. Hahahaha why didn't you lock the door you dumbass? Did you forget you weren't alone again?"**_ Richard groaned in response as he covered his face in embarrassment. This was going to be awkward tomorrow.

The mood was killed after that and Richard managed to fall asleep about an hour after that horrible experience, he could only imagine how Lincoln felt right now.

"Oh. my. god" _**"**_ _ **I know right? Did you see that thing? I bet he**_ _ **was imagining**_ _ **your head wrapped around it hehehe".**_ _"shut up! God you can be annoying sometimes, correction, most of the time"._ Lincoln hoped that Rich wouldn't want to talk about this tomorrow. he'd rather forget it and he was sure Richard wanted to as well. Lincoln hoped that Richard wouldn't make this mistake again.

At least that moment made all his previous negative thoughts disappear, and he managed to get to sleep not too long after that.

* * *

The next morning Richard woke up first and crept down the staircase with his bag in tow. He went into the kitchen to see if the former occupants had anything he could make for food, otherwise he'd just have one of the cereals he packed. After finding nothing he sighed and set his backpack down on the counter, opening it to pull out a box of Apple Jacks.

His heart started beating as he heard a door close and footsteps upstairs. He just hoped that Lincoln wanted to forget about last night like he did and things wouldn't be as awkward as possible. The footsteps got closer as Richard began eating his cereal and staring out the window, not wanting to look at him out of shame.

Lincoln walked into the kitchen and stopped in the doorway as he saw Richard eating by the window. He saw Rich was trying to keep his gaze off of him as he looked at Rich's reflection in the window. Lincoln scratched the back of his head as he took out some breakfast of his own and walked into the living room.

Richard walked to the door frame as he looked over at Lincoln. "sooo I'm gonna guess you'd like to forget last night happened right? Well obviously I do too so we are **NOT** talking about it". Lincoln didn't turn to him as he kept eating his cereal but gave him a thumbs up in response. "Good. Now finish eating, I want to leave here as soon as possible to keep searching".

They rested at the house for another half hour before gathering their stuff up and started following the main road further north. Their walk was quiet for the longest time as Lincoln and Richard kept stealing quick glances at each other, not wanting to talk about last night but still feeling like they should say something at least.

"Ok look". They said at the same time. "You first dude" Richard said. "um look Rich I, I know that sometimes people uh, geez. I know that sometimes people… well get that urge, or have like pent up stress or something but you should've locked the door man. I really didn't need to see that".

Richard nodded as he told Lincoln he'd handle it better now, he doesn't want that to happen again either.

"Um not really a question I should be asking here but have you ever… you know". Lincoln's face turned red as a tomato and he shook his head. "I shouldn't really talk about something like that with you Richard. But no I… I never have". Lincoln lied but didn't want to think about the reason why. And definitely didn't want Richard to know about that.

Needless to say the rest of their day was kinda awkward as both of them didn't really talk much and any conversation the other had tried to start, quickly fizzled out. "Well this is about as awkward as I thought it'd be. So how much further do you think we are from this place?" Rich asked.

Lincoln saw a road sign a little ways ahead of them and ran up to look at it. The town was still miles away but they were closer than he thought they were. They should make it there by noon tomorrow depending how much more progress they make today and how early they move tomorrow.

"Sweet. And by the way dude I wanted to ask you about something the other day. Was that a stuffed rabbit you had back there?" _"_ _H_ _ere we go. I swear if he makes fun of me for this I'm going to punch him"._ Lincoln hesitantly nodded. "I get it". _"wait what?"_

"Yeah I understand why you'd carry that thing around. It reminds you of days before all this, better times and is still a memory of the childhood that was taken from you by this apocalypse. So I get why you still have it with you. Hell I might've done the same thing If I was your age, I can be very sentimental".

"w-well thanks Rich. I actually didn't think about it that way. I just knew that the little guy still gave me comfort in this world". "I'm guessing he has a name? Care to share it?" Lincoln thought about it for a minute, with the type of guy Rich is he doubted that he would make fun of the name but still decided against it. "maybe another time Rich". He nodded in response as they kept walking.

They stopped at some abandoned church when it was too dark out. The church was painted in an off white color that has faded in the absence of care, it wasn't really big by any means. It looked like some church a small community built, simple but effective. They were about to make a small camp in the woods and take a shift looking watch but walked a bit further to find this place. "Alright while we might be safe here if we block the doors I'm still going to keep guard, you can never be too careful".

"Alright man, just wake me up after four hours so I can take over, don't want you to do it all night". "Yeah sure thing, now go to bed".

Richard stayed on guard the entire night, if Lincoln woke up himself than he'd let him take over but the kid slept through the night so he stayed up. Throughout the night Richard thought about his own life and some of the choices he's made up to this point.

He thought back to the months before he found Lincoln and how many people he had killed. He still remembered the first time he killed someone.

* * *

It was about a month into the apocalypse when he was walking around a small town, one that didn't have much to look at. Family owned shops and businesses lined the few amount of roads the town had. It was the kinda place where everyone knew each other and hardly any crimes took place except maybe the occasional ones committed by the towns usual drunks.

The place was deserted, there were hardly any walkers around the place either. Richard was almost done looting the town when he heard a scream in the distance. Running towards the sound of the screams, Richard began zeroing in the noise and turned the corner into an alleyway, finding the source of the cries.

Halfway into the alley there was a twitchy middle-aged man holding a knife to some blonde woman's throat. The man had her pinned against the wall, and that's when Richard noticed the man on the ground holding his side in both hands as blood was oozing out of a wound in his gut. There was a little girl next to the man on the ground who was kneeling next to him, her whole body was shaking in panic, with tears in her eyes. Based on this evidence it looked like this asshole was trying to take the families supplies when the man on the ground tried to stop him.

Richard gripped his knife from its sheath and started creeping up to the assailant who had the woman pinned to the wall. There was a bag of supplies next to the two and Richard was wondering why the guy was still here if he could just take it. "stop it!" the little girl shouted as she ran from her father on the ground to the man holding her mother and threatening her with the knife.

She grabbed onto the man's arm as she tried to pull him away from her mom, but the man simply switched his grip from the mom to the kid. He backed away from the mother with her child in his grasp, holding the knife flushed against her neck. "no! Not her please, just take our stuff and leave". The woman shouted.

"nonono I think that since I've had to go through all this extra trouble here I need something a little more. And I think I know just what, or better, who that is".

The man grinned as he pressed the blade closer to the young girl's throat. "Now then lady why don't you start strippin' or I start slittin' you follow me?" The woman hesitantly, shakily, brought her hands to the hem of her shirt.

Richard was close to the group now, he was crouched just behind a pair of dumpsters waiting for the moment to strike. The man on the ground had noticed him and they nodded to each other. The man had a rock in his hand and motioned to Rich that he was going to throw it to the opposite end of the alley to distract the attacker for a few seconds.

The guy threw the rock to the left of the attacker causing him to look in that direction while Richard got right next to him for attack. Richard used his right hand to hold the man's arm away from the girl giving her the window to escape and then he used his left hand to slide the knife to the front of the assailant's neck. Once the mom and daughter were back with the man on the ground, Richard shoved the guy against the wall and held the knife in his direction.

"wh-who the he-" Richard punched the man across the face, interrupting his question before holing a finger to his lips. "You're gonna stand perfectly still and not make one more sound until these kind folks are gone, you hear me?" The man nodded in response as he held his nose, which was probably broken by the looks of it.

Richard slowly removed his backpack and set it on the ground. "Here ma'am, there's a small box of medical supplies towards the top. Take it and meet me by that small butcher shop close to the edge of town". The woman walked up and grabbed the box out before closing the pack and helping her husband to his feet. After they were out of the alley Richard lunged towards the would be thief and slammed the knife into the man's left shoulder.

Richard cringed as the man screamed out in pain. Richard never liked seeing anyone in pain, physical or emotional, but not now. This was different, it was the first time he had intentionally dealt out physical pain on another. And something about it felt… good. He thought it might've felt like this because the guy deserves it. He was going to kill these people, and by the looks of the way things were escalating, it could've been worse.

Richard's grimace turned into a small smile as he took the knife out and plunged it deep into the man's side, causing him to scream out again. Richard repeatedly stabbed the man in multiple parts of his body, a few times taking the instance to twist the knife. After a couple minutes Rich stabbed the guy in the head and quietly left the alley, looking for the family he saved.

On his way to the butcher shop he thought about what he just did. _"What the hell did I just do? Did I really just enjoy all of that? I should've just killed him_ _and been done with it_ _"._ _ **"**_ _ **B**_ _ **ut you wanted him to suffer, we both did. You wanted him to pay for what he was doing before leaving this mortal coil".**_ _"_ _N_ _o that's not… I'm not like that. I was going to kill him_ _sure_ _,_ _but_ _I didn't need to take my time like I did though. I never like seeing others in pain like that, so why did I just become the cause of that pain and why did I enjoy it!?"_ _ **"**_ _ **M**_ _ **aybe it's because he was hurting that family? Who cares? You let this "dark passenger" out in the open and onto someone else**_ _ **for once**_ _ **.**_ _ **D**_ _ **idn't it feel great? don't lie".**_

Richard didn't answer himself back, he shook his head and continued onward, finding the family by the butcher shop he told them about. He helped the wife stitch her husband's wound up and left them some supplies before heading back out on his cross country road trip. _"_ _A_ _lright it looks like the next stop is Royal Woods, Michigan. H_ _mm_ _m nice name"._

* * *

 _"_ _If only I knew back then how that first kill would change things"._ _ **"**_ _ **C**_ _ **ome on Rich we both know it changed you for the better. Well maybe not that much better but… how much worse could you get? Hehehehe".**_ _"Look we've talked back and forth for how many years now? Over six. We both know that you're always going to be a part of me but we also know that I'm a lot better than you try to convince me I am"._

 _ **"**_ _ **W**_ _ **ell look who's finally got some sense back. So does this mean that I'm going back in that cage you lock me away in?"**_ _"_ _R_ _eally? you're never locked in a cage, you're a continual_ _presence. A part of me. You only come out when I need that "other half" to talk to"._

Richard shuffled a sleep playlist he had and rested his eyes. He planned on getting a few hours of sleep before sunrise and made sure to set an alarm on the door in case someone or something tried to get in. Richard had hoped that they would find Lincoln's family soon, he knew the little guy still feels uncomfortable around him, for understandable reasons. He needed to start finding ways to help in that regard and also start looking into ways to help Lincoln with his mental and emotional issues from the trauma he suffered at the hands of Jim's men. Richard could still see it below Lincoln's face, the hurt behind his eyes, no matter how big that smile seemed.

Richard was by no means a psychiatrist but it was the profession he was beginning to pursue before everything turned to shit. He was always fascinated by the human psyche, and always wanted to help people. When he realized that being a cop wasn't really going to be up his alley, Richard started looking into alternatives. He was always a great listener, but never really knew the right things to say to help with the problems he was hearing. Granted he had his own mental health to try and repair. He figured that being a therapist was a good way to sort of kill two birds with one stone.

Before closing his eyes to get to sleep, Richard looked over to Lincoln's sleeping form. He was wondering what was going through his head right now, if the kid was having another nightmare, peaceful dream, or maybe even no dream at all. _"_ _One day at a time Richard, help him find his family and then worry about his mind after the fact, if he even wants you there afterwards"._

* * *

Both of the boys woke up around the same time, Richard's watch informed him it was almost nine in the morning. "Damn. Slept in more than I would've liked but oh well. Hey Lincoln! Be ready to leave in the next half hour! I want to be on the road soon". Lincoln groaned in response as he rolled over in his sleeping bag. _"_ _H_ _m._ _Sounds like me when I had to get to work heheh_ _"._

After eating a small breakfast, they packed up their belongings and headed back along the road. They didn't really talk much but it wasn't because of some awkward night beforehand, they just didn't really have much to talk about. They reached the town that Rita marked on the map after a few hours and started looking around for any type of sign or camp.

"So I'm guessing that with a family of nine, but hopefully more, they would've needed a decent sized area for a camp. Be on the lookout for big buildings or easily defensible locations". After twenty minutes of searching they saw a street sign that had **"Linc"** spray painted in red on it. "Richard look!".

They ran in the direction the sign pointed them and found a couple more like it that led them down a few more roads. After running down a couple more streets they came across a two story, brick building. The two story building had an automotive repair shop connected to the left side of it.

They decided to look around the garage first but didn't find any clues or information on where the Loud family could've gone, so they moved into the two story building next. The place itself was one-third business and two-thirds home. It must've been some family owned mechanic's place. Richard and Lincoln found some discarded food and candy wrappers, as well as a few empty water bottles. "Well it looks like someone was here at least".

They searched around the first and second floor, not finding a note or anything to help the two on their search. "I, I don't get it Rich! The signs led us here and she said they would leave a note on where they were heading off to next. I don't see anything here do you!?" Lincoln asked as his voice started to raise and he threw his hands up in frustration and anger.

"Hey easy there Lincoln. I'm sure they wouldn't just leave you high and dry here. They must've left something somewhere so let's just keep looking". They searched for a few more minutes until Richard found a piece of paper that had fallen behind the TV.

"Lincoln! I found something". Richard handed the paper over to Lincoln and he started reading it out loud.

 _Dear Lincoln,_

 _I'm sorry honey, not just because we had to move again but because we didn't find you. We searched for any nearby camps and found nothing, we found a town and had started looking through it until we were attacked by those same people. We all have a feeling that you are in there and, and I don't know if that's true or not but we couldn't stay. They almost killed Lori and Lynn when they_ _fought back and it pains me to say it but everyone decided it was best to leave there for everyone's safety._

 _If you were in that town somewhere then I'm so sorry we left you behind, but I couldn't lose anyone else, we couldn't. I hope you're reading this and that you're still trying to find us. We are going to keep heading east to try and find someplace that is not only safe but can sustain our family._

 _I don't have a map to mark for you this time but considering you must have the one I left earlier then you can mark that one. We are going to stop in the next town east of here and I'll keep leaving notes anytime we leave for another location, I'm just hoping that you'll be able to catch up with us._

 _With love, your family._

"We… we need to keep heading east". Richard nodded as he gathered his stuff back up and got ready to walk out of the home. Lincoln took one quick glance around the room, imagining his family sleeping soundly in their sleeping bags while he was being raped and beaten. He squeezed his eyes shut, he didn't want to think like that. He would've rather his family be safe than any of them to die trying to rescue him, as much as he would've loved to see them, it was for the best.

Richard and Lincoln walked along the main road that led out of the east side of town. They didn't even bother looting any of the buildings as Lincoln wanted to cover as much ground as they could to reach his family sooner. He doubted they would stay in any one place too long, and who knows how long they were even at this place.

The two had to make camp in the woods once it started getting dark out and only made it a few miles outside of town before Richard told him they needed to stop. Lincoln offered to take watch this time but Richard refused and told him to go to sleep. Lincoln tried to fight him on it but Richard was being too stubborn and didn't give an inch. "Ugh fine. But tomorrow I'm taking first watch, it's not fair that you stay on guard duty every time, especially since you didn't let me take over last night. Wait, did you even get any sleep?"

"yes I did Lincoln, I just set an alert system on the door so I'd wake up if anything got in so I'm good. Now go to bed".

Lincoln didn't rest as easy as he did the other night however and once again had a nightmare that was influenced by his suffering from the hotel.

* * *

Lincoln was locked in the closet of Jim's room, his "bedroom" for the past few days. He had managed to get a few hours of sleep after his last horror with Jim, when he was suddenly woken by the door swinging open and shouting coming from the living area. Jim grabbed the chain that connected the handcuffs on Lincoln's wrists and led him out of the closet, taking him to a group of people Jim's men had captured. There was three of them lined up in front of the red couch and their wrists were bound and heads covered.

Lincoln was thrown to his knees in front of the three people that had black hoods covering their heads. After getting a closer look at them, he could tell that all three of them were girls and even though he couldn't see their faces, they seemed familiar to him.

"Linc my boy! Sorry to wake you up like this, I know it must be hard for you to get some sleep after the way things have been for you. But I just couldn't wait to show you the surprise my men found for you".

Jim swiftly removed the bags from the three girls and Lincoln's eyes widened in horror, but also a small amount of joy. The three people that got captured were Lori, Lynn, and Lucy, all three had gags around their mouths. Their eyes lit up when they saw their brother but that light quickly extinguished when they saw the state he was in and realized the situation the four of them were in now. No one spoke for a solid minute before Jim ruined the Loud's reunion.

"So… I was thinking what better way to celebrate a reunion than with a game! And I have a feeling you haven't played this one before but don't worry I'll fill ya in on the details". Jim began as he walked over to Lori and threw one arm around her shoulder. "the game I was hoping we could play is marry, screw, kill. Now the game is self explanatory, I just need you to choose a title for each of these beauties".

"Wha-what!? I'm not picking any of them for any of those! Please just let them go". "Let them go!? But dude they just got here. I'm sure they've missed you these past few days and I doubt they would want to leave now that they found you". Lynn glared at Jim as he started playing head games with her brother, Lincoln just kept looking to Jim with pleading eyes.

"If you don't start picking then I'm going to pick for you. And I have a feeling you might not like the ones I pick". Jim said with a devil's grin as he started eyeing Lucy in a way Lincoln was all too familiar with now. "No! Not her, not, not any of them please". As he looked into Jim's eyes Lincoln knew that his pleas were falling on deaf ears. "If, if I pick. Then what happens exactly? I know you'll kill whoever I say but… the other two. How, how do-does that go down?"

"Good question. Well obviously whoever you pick to screw can either be for you or me. That's a separate choice for you, and Marry is well, who you want me to take as my wife".

Lincoln's eyes burned with tears as Jim finished his explanation. _"This is crap, I bet if I got Lynn unbound then maybe we could take these guys. But then what about the other two? Is he going to immediately kill whoever I say?"_

"I, I think I've made my choice". Lincoln said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "If I tell you who to kill then can you hold off on killing them until tomorrow? I just got back with them and I would really appreciate it if I can have the time to properly say goodbye". "I'll allow it" Jim responded.

"o-o-okay I say...kill Lucy, sc-screw Lynn and marry Lori." Lincoln said as he pointed to each of his sisters, since Jim didn't know their names. "well that was predictable..." Jim disappointedly said before pulling out his gun and shooting Lori and Lynn in the back of the head. Lincoln's eyes went wide with shock and his mouth fell to the floor as he could do nothing but stare at the nightmare that just unfolded before him. He couldn't give voice to the screams that were pounding in his head, Lucy looked on in horror as her sisters were murdered in cold-blood next to her, she screamed through her gag.

"Now. I knew you'd pick them but I was hoping you'd surprise me. That pig-tailed bitch took out three of my men before they subdued her and I figured you would pick her to screw so that you two could fight back and maybe get away… well good luck with that now. hehehehe".

"I was going to screw little miss doom and gloom here anyway but the mood is ruined and all I want to do now is sleep so..." Jim raised his gun to fire and all Lincoln heard was the bang before everything faded to black.

* * *

Lincoln shot up in his sleeping bag, covered in sweat and breathing uneven. He looked around and saw that he wasn't there anymore and he was in camp with Rich. Richard was too busy taking out a walker that had just wandered too close to camp to notice Lincoln's frightened state. He started walking back to the perimeter of their site before looking over to Lincoln.

"Lemme guess, another nightmare?" Lincoln said nothing in response as he tried to get his breathing under control, holding a hand to his chest. Lincoln told Richard about the nightmare and Richard offered what little comfort he could with his words, trying to get Lincoln back to sleep but he wasn't having any of it.

"L-Let me just take over on guard duty okay Rich? I'll be fine. I just… need some peace and quiet, but not asleep and trapped in my own head". Richard relented and let Lincoln take over while Rich tried to catch some sleep himself.

* * *

Once morning hit the pair continued east as they made their way to the next town on the map. "So did she say how long they'd be staying in this next location?" Richard asked as they trekked along the lengthy stretch of road. "No. she just said that they'd keep moving east until they found a place that could keep them all safe and supplied for longer than a week".

They had to break off of the road when they spotted a herd roaming in their direction. After finding another way into the town the pair started searching for any signs or locations that could hold the Loud family. They found street signs that were similar to the ones in the previous town and started following them as they were led to an abandoned cathedral.

After a few minutes of searching Lincoln found the note that his mother had left for him and he started reading it's contents. However after a minute into the letter Lincoln's eyes widened and this didn't go unnoticed by Richard. Lincoln let go of the letter, as it fell to the ground and he stared blankly at the floor. Tears were forming in his eyes and he turned and ran out of the cathedral. "Lincoln!? Hey! Where are you going?"

Richard picked up the letter before following after him, reading it as he chased after Lincoln.

 _Dear Lincoln,_

 _There's a small part of me that hopes you aren't out there any longer, because at least it means that you'd be free of the coldness this world has fallen under. That part is outweighed by the one that desperately wants you back in my arms however and I hope that you are still following our trail._

 _I don't know if you already saw the grave in the front of town or not. It all happened so fast. One minute we were just wandering around like normal, well normal by today's standards. When these men came out of the woods and held us at gunpoint. If it wasn't for_ _her_ _then Lola would be. She died protecting her and I hate for you to find out this way. I don't know what to do anymore sweetie, our family keeps falling away one member at a time and I can't take anymore of you leaving me. Please Lincoln, my special boy find us. I need you here with us, your sisters need you with us, and I can see it in her eyes. Ronnie-Anne is still deeply affected by you're missing presence, we all need you baby,_ _now more than ever._

 _Like I said in the previous note, we're going to keep moving east, hopefully we'll find a place we can stay at for longer than a week soon._

 _With love, your family._

By he time Richard finished the letter he and Lincoln had made it close to the front of town. Richard saw Lincoln on his knees by a small wooden cross on the side of the road. The cross was planted into a disturbed patch of earth, the grave looks like it wasn't made recently. Maybe a couple weeks. There was a name carved into the horizontal board on the cross.

 **Here lies Lana Loud. Beloved sister and daughter. The one who could fix it all.**

* * *

 **And another one bites the dust. How did it happen? When did it happen? Will Lincoln ever find his family? These questions and more will be answered in the sequel "Returning Who Was Lost". Be on the lookout for it in the future, I might try my hand at some one-shots or smaller stories before posting it however, we'll see. Anyways see you all next time, I hope you've all enjoyed my first story.**


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